Licentia
by KtheGrayt
Summary: What are you willing to sacrifice in the search for freedom? Would you offer up your innocence, your dreams, or even your humanity? Watch as those who quest for this arduous goal succeed... and fail. On Hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Well I finally got my ass around to writing this (no annoying friends were involved in getting me to do this I _swear_). For those of you who actually read the first version, I hope you find this to be an improvement. And to those of you who are first reading it I hope you enjoy it. Now here I'll insert the cliché author's note phrases. I hope for you to review, no flames please, but criticizism always accepted. I don't care whether you like/review this or not I'll still write it. I don't own Naruto or any of the other characters from the manga/anime, but any OCs are mine or I have permission to use them. Now read.

"Talking"

"_Thinking"_

"**Jutsu"**

Note – Talking and Thinking are reversed in flashbacks

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* * *

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**K**

The curtain draws back to reveal a room. Like most rooms it had four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. The room itself was lit by a bulb hanging from the ceiling, uncovered and flickering every so often. Along one of the walls was a mirror, which was in fact a two-way mirror, the kind found usually in police stations or movie productions. In the center of the room was a worn wooden table that looked as if it had been sitting in that same position for years, which it most likely had. There was currently only one occupant in the room, and he was seated at the worn table. His wrists were strapped to the arms of his chair. The person strapped to the chair had blonde hair, so blonde that it could only be compared to the color of the sun, and his eyes were the color of the sky. His skin was very pale, and was splotched with dried blood. What made this situation different from most though was the age of the occupant. He appeared to be no more then five and his face and eyes were devoid of any emotions. There were currently two men behind the mirror. One was a man wore a brown cloak, and had a mask that resembled animal's face. The other was a man who appeared very old. One who has led a harsh life and seen almost all life is willing to show someone. His eyes held wisdom only gained by those who have lived there lives noticing all the details of life. Both were currently standing facing forward looking through the mirror at the boy strapped to the chair.

"So tell me exactly what happened. What was he like when you first encountered him?" asked the aged man.

"Well Hokage-sama, after you asked me to check on Naruto-san…"

_FLASHBACK_

_The rain was pouring down from the dark clouds in the sky above. Most people knew to stay inside during these dreary storms, but there was one man who was quickly making his way along the rooftop of the villages. His body was adorned by a cloak, which was completely soaked through by the rain, and an animal mask. The man stopped on a non-descript rooftop and jumped over the street to an apartment complex, proceeding to make his way quickly to the right door. After finding the door to be locked, he forced his way into the apartment by kicking the door in. The man drew his katana, which hung from his waist, previously hidden by his soaked cloak, and made his way slowly through the apartment. After finding nothing in the kitchen, bathroom, or living room he was left with only one more room, the bedroom._

_The man tried the door knob; it was open. He slowly opened the door so as not to startle anyone inside the room. The stench of blood hit the man's nose almost immediately upon opening the door. The scene before him was something usually reserved for psychopathic killers or S-Ranked missions. Every wall was lined with what looked like all the blood a body could hold, which it might in fact have been. A woman's corpse lay on the ground, it was so disfigured that it was amazing that he could tell that it was even once human let alone female. And in the middle of the bloody scene was a small child, his head bowed down towards the ground, hair casting a shadow over his eyes. He had blond hair that could only be rivaled by the sun; the man knew his eyes to look like they had captured the sky within them; and what looked like three black whisker marks adorned each cheek. His hands had nails that extended into extremely sharp claws, which seemed to be what caused all of this mess if the slash marks on the body had anything to say. Blood slowly dripped from the child's clawed hands, and pooled in a small puddle by his feet._

"_Naruto-san?" the man with the animal mask asked. The child raised his head and looked at the man. His eyes were not focused on the man, so the child appeared to be looking straight through him. "Naruto-san, can you hear me?"_

_The child's eyes began to focus, and he looked at the man in front of him, the realization of who he was dawned on him. His eyes then began to dart back and forth taking in the entire scene. They finally rested on his blood covered hands. His entire body began to shake and tears began to leak from his eyes._

"_Why? What did I ever do to you," the child clenched his fists, a trickle of blood leaking out from one, a few sobs escaped from his lips._

_The man stood still watching the child's internal struggle with himself. He walked forward and placed his hands on Naruto's shoulders. "Naruto-san I must take you to the Hokage's tower and report on tonight's occurrences." The boys face shot up to look at the man, his face held a mask of panic._

"_I-I had no choice," the child responded desperately._

"_I didn't say you had a choice, but I still have to take you to see him."_

_The child fell to his knees and choked sobs began to erupt from the child's throat. The man approached the child and picked him up. Naruto clung to the man still crying, and after the man made sure that Naruto was secure on his body he left the apartment and jumped onto the roof of building across the street. He made his way back to the tower and into his superior's office._

"_I have brought the child as you asked," said the masked man._

"_Follow me, I'll show you where to put him for the moment," replied the Hokage._

_END FLASHBACK_

"I see… you are dismissed then."

After the masked man had left the Hokage turned back towards the mirror, and continued to watch the child. After a few minutes he had worked up the nerve to enter the room and talk to the child.

"Naruto?" asked the old man. Naruto looked up at the Hokage, but didn't say anything. "Naruto I'd like to ask you a few questions, is that alright with you?"

Naruto nodded his head slowly, and the Hokage took a seat across from him. "First off, how are you feeling? Are you a little nervous? Scared?"

Naruto's nodding head was the Hokage's only answer. "Well don't be, I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to clarify a few things."

Naruto visibly relaxed after the Hokage's statement. "Now I'd like to know what happened, from your point of view. Can you do that?"

"H-Hai…"

_FLASHBACK_

_Naruto sat on a couch in his new apartment. The room was completely devoid of any furniture besides the couch and a table with a few chairs. The vast emptiness of the apartment had been weighing down upon him recently. It seemed to remind him of just how completely devoid of any compassion his life had contained so far. He had only met one person in the whole village so far that had displayed any sort of positive emotion towards him, and that was the Hokage. It hurt him a little when the Hokage had replied to Naruto's question of why he cared about him, that it was his job to look after and care for everyone in the village including him. It made him seem like he was nothing special compared to anyone else and that it was the Hokage's job to be nice to him, but at least it was better than the way the rest of the village treated him. Earlier that week the Hokage had said that he would be coming by today with a surprise for the boy, and he couldn't wait to find out what it was. _

_Right after the completion of that train of thought a knock was heard from the front door. Naruto jumped from the couch and ran towards the door. He was greeted by the Hokage as he opened it._

"_Hello Naruto, how have you been lately? Are you enjoying your new apartment?"_

_Naruto nodded his head, "Hai, Hokage-jiji and thank you for the apartment. It's been pretty quiet lately, but much more comfortable then sleeping on the streets."_

_The Hokage smiled before responding, "So Naruto how about we take a seat before I reveal your surprise."_

_Naruto's eyes grew a little wider as he remembered the surprise. He grabbed the Hokage's hand and pulled him towards his only table, before pulling a chair out for him. _

"_You can sit here," said an excited Naruto._

"_Why thank you Naruto." The Hokage took a seat and waited for Naruto to follow before continuing, "Now Naruto I know that it's been a little lonely when you're by yourself, so I decided I'd do something about it. That's why I took it into my own hands to find you a caretaker." Naruto looked up, a look of surprise clear on his face. The Hokage smiled at Naruto's expression, "Momo, could you come in please." _

_The door to Naruto's apartment opened once again and a middle aged woman entered the room. She was a very plain looking woman, with brown hair, brown eyes, and a slightly pale complexion._

"_Naruto, this is Momo. She will be taking care of you from now on. Well that's if you want her to at least." The Hokage looked towards Naruto waiting for his answer._

_Naruto nodded his head excitedly in response. "Well I'm sure you two can take it from here right?"_

"_Hai, Hokage-sama," replied Momo._

"_Goodbye then Momo, Naruto," said the Hokage as he left the apartment._

_As the Hokage left Momo turned back towards Naruto and smiled, "Hello Naruto, it's nice to meet you." She held out her hand for Naruto to shake, which he did with a dazed look on his face._

"_It's nice to meet you to Momo-chan."_

_After a few seconds of silence Momo began to speak again. "Well, now those introductions are out of the way, how about the grand tour? Hmm?"_

_Naruto snapped out of his daze at Momo's request. "Sure." Naruto grabbed Momo's hand and began to show her all the rooms in the apartment and where he kept everything._

_After the tour was done the two returned to the living room and Momo turned to Naruto. "Well Naruto, I'll be back tomorrow morning to start my job, but until then I have to go and finish a few chores at my house. Goodbye Naruto."_

"_Goodbye Momo-chan," said Naruto as he waved to the departing form of Momo._

_After she left Naruto made himself a quick dinner before cleaning himself up for the night, and heading off to bed. As he lay in bed he realized that today had been one of the best days of his life. The only other day that could compete was the day that he had first met the Hokage, and the day that the Hokage had given him this very apartment. Naruto believed that he had finally found another person that didn't hate him, and was even willing to look after him._

_

* * *

The next morning Naruto woke early and got out of his bed. He took a quick shower and began his other daily hygiene rituals. After finishing getting cleaned up he walked into his kitchen, his mind still slightly asleep, and made himself some breakfast. After the first few bites his mind started to come back to life, and with that he realized that Momo-chan was supposed to be coming that morning. He quickly devoured the rest of his breakfast and went about cleaning up any small messes he had left in the apartment. Today was a day to set a good impression he thought. After he was done cleaning he sat himself down on his couch to begin the wait for his caretaker. After a few minutes of waiting on the couch his foot began to tap slightly, getting more rapid with each passing minute, and after a few more minutes of waiting he rose from the couch and began to pace._

_After thirty minutes of tapping, pacing, and waiting he sunk back onto the couch and tears began to gather in his eyes. "I knew she wouldn't be any different then everybody else." A few moments later Naruto heard a knock on the door. He quickly rose, wiping the tears out of his eyes, and opened the door swiftly. Standing in front of him was Momo smiling joyfully towards him._

"_Good morning, Naruto. May I come in?"_

_Naruto stepped aside to allow her passage into his apartment, and shut the door after she was inside._

"_So Naruto, what would you like to do today?"_

"_Uhh… well would you go with me to the park?"_

"_Sure sounds like a plan."_

_The two left the apartment and began their short trek to the park. Along the way Naruto received the hating and disrespectful glares he usually got, but he also noticed that some were directed at Momo. When he looked at her to see how she to see how she'd take it, she just smiled back to him and pulled him along._

_When they got to the park Naruto rushed off to his favorite piece of playground equipment, the swings. As he jumped onto one he began to pump his legs back and forth, propelling him higher and higher. Momo walked over to a bench and took a seat. As Naruto was swinging all the children on the playground, along with the few parents that accompanied their children, began to give him the same dirty looks that all the other villagers had given him. Momo noticed that as Naruto swung he looked to be so happy, as if he had no care in the world._

"_Momo, come push me!" shouted Naruto._

_Momo stifled a chuckle as she rose from the bench. "I'll be right there Naruto."_

_As Momo began to push Naruto, more of the glares turned from him towards her, but both of them just ignored them as they continued swinging. After an hour or so of swinging along with other little games the two played around the playground, Momo returned to the bench she had first sat on._

"_Come here Naruto, I'm too tired to keep chasing you."_

"_Aww, but I've still got tons of energy!"_

"_Get your butt over here now mister," said Momo playfully._

_Naruto slowly walked towards Momo, his head down in resignation. "Oh 'kay."_

_Momo turned to Naruto as he sat down on the bench beside her. "So what would you like to do for the few hours left in the day, hmm?"_

"_Let's go to Ichiraku's!" proclaimed Naruto as he jumped up from the bench._

_Momo cocked her head and smiled at the small child's outburst. "Sure, why not."_

_Naruto pumped his arms in the direction of Ichiraku's. "TO ICHIRAKU'S!" Naruto started running out of the playground, slowing down as he noticed Momo wasn't following him. "Come on Momo, let's go!"_

_Momo lightly giggled before standing up from the bench. "Sure Naruto lets go."_

_After a few minutes the two found themselves in front of Naruto's favorite ramen stand, Ichiraku's._

"_Ojisan!"_

"_Well Ayame, if it isn't our favorite customer."_

"_Miso-ramen Naruto?" asked Ayame._

"_Hai!"_

_As Ayame went in the back to prepare Naruto's ramen, Ichiraku turned towards Momo. _

"_So who is your friend Naruto?"_

"_Konichiwa, my name is Momo."_

"_Yeah Ichiraku, she's my caretaker."_

"_Well isn't that great. So, have you two been having fun today?"_

"_Hai, ojisan"_

_Ayame walked out of the back, and placed a bowl in front of Naruto. "Here's your miso ramen Naruto. Would your friend like anything Naruto?"_

"_No thank you, I'm good right now."_

"_Your loss Momo-chan." With that said Naruto began to dig into his freshly made ramen._

"_So have you been well recently, Naruto?" asked Ayame._

_Naruto nodded his head swiftly, still eating his ramen while he answered._

_After asking a few more questions, Ayame and Ichiraku went to the back of the stand to continue the few chores that the job required of them. Momo watched Naruto as he finished his large bowl of ramen, and could only smile at the enthusiasm he took in eating that bowl ramen._

"_Done!"_

"_Well then Naruto are you ready to go?"_

"_Hai."_

_Momo put the necessary money for Naruto's dinner on the counter, and then walked out of the stand with Naruto. Naruto was swinging his arms back and forth as they walked, obviously enjoying himself._

"_So Naruto, did you enjoy yourself today?"_

"_Uh-huh, it was so much fun. Can we do this again tomorrow?"_

"_If that's what you want then sure. We could do this everyday if you want Naruto."_

"_Yay!" Naruto began to jump around in joy at Momo's idea._

_Momo turned to Naruto once they reached his apartment, "Well Naruto, it's about time that I leave. I'll be back in the morning to see you again. You gonna be okay?"_

_Naruto nodded in response. "Goodbye Momo-chan."_

_Momo waved at Naruto as she left the apartment complex._

_As Naruto lay in bed he sifted through the events of the day. Today had been one of the best days of his lives. He had finally found another person he believed liked him. The only one so far besides her was the Hokage. He couldn't wait until tomorrow to do it all again._

_Everyday of the next week was much like the first. Momo and Naruto would do something together for the day, and finish it all off with Ichiraku's. It was the best week Naruto had ever experienced, but like all good things it had to come to an end._

_The first day of the next week had been like the week before. Naruto enjoyed himself immensely with the company of Momo. Unlike usual though, when Naruto had entered his apartment Momo had followed him. Momo tucked Naruto in, when he went to bed._

"_I'll just let myself out after you fall asleep," said Momo with a cheery grin on her face. _

"_Tomorrow will be just as fun as today was. Won't that be great?"_

_Naruto tiredly nodded his head as he got comfortable in his bed._

"_Well, I'll be going now Naruto." Momo closed the door as she left the room and quietly walked down the hall._

_Naruto slowly drifted to sleep, hoping for dreams of the coming day._

_Unfortunately, Naruto didn't get his wish that night. He had his first nightmare in over week. Naruto was drifting in a body of water staring up into nothing. He suddenly felt something grab his leg and pull him into the water. Naruto's body was thrashing around at the lack of air, as he was slowly being pulled further and further down._

_He suddenly woke from his nightmare to realize that the lack of air was no nightmare, he actually couldn't breathe. Someone had their hands wrapped tightly around his throat cutting off his air supply and any means of calling for help. As his eyes slowly become accustomed to the dark he could finally see his assailant. Standing over him, with her hands wrapped around his throat, was Momo. He was sure that his breath would have been caught in his throat if it wasn't for him being strangled._

"_Why," Naruto mouthed._

"_Because you killed everyone I ever loved! My parents, my siblings, and even my lover. Your hands are _soaked_ in they're blood. So now, I will avenge their deaths. I will kill you with my own hands!" Momo began putting even more force into her strangling of Naruto._

"What does she mean I killed her loved ones? I don't understand what is going on. And I don't want to die. Someone help me. I don't want to die,"_ thought Naruto to himself as he closed his eyes to try to escape some of the pain._

"How much are you willing to sacrifice to survive?"_asked a mysterious voice._

"What do you mean?"

"How much are you willing to give up escaping death?"

"A—anything."

"Are you willing to give up your innocence?"

"Sure, if it helps."_ Naruto felt a flux of strange power enter his body._

"Then relinquish control, and I shall grant your wish, young one."

_Naruto threw himself into the strange power._

_Momo gasped and redoubled her efforts as Naruto opened his eyes. Naruto stared straight into Momo's eyes, his glowed a piercing blood red. Naruto grabbed Momo's hands and began to ply them off of his neck._

_Momo slowly backed away from Naruto as he stood from his bed, a look of horror appearing on her face. Naruto moved menacingly forwards toward Momo backing her into a wall. As her back touched the wall she quickly looked from side to side looking for some means of escape. Finding none, she sank to her knees and began to plead._

"_Please, please, don't kill me! I'll do anything, just don't kill me!"_

_Naruto just kept walking towards Momo, until he was standing right in front of her. As he stopped he pulled his arm back, and held it in mid air._

"_Anything you want, I'll try to get it for you, just don't kill me!"_

_Naruto thrust his arm forwards, impaling it through Momo's stomach. Followed quickly by his other slashing through her throat, barely missing the jugular, but rendering her incapable of speech. His next task was to make escape impossible, which was accomplished by tearing out a portion of her legs. He didn't want her fighting back, so he cut through her arms splashing even more blood against the walls. After he was done with the crippling tasks, it was time for dramatic effect, or for Naruto losing one's self further to the moment. It was then that he sliced open her stomach, spilling her intestines onto the floor of his bedroom. He widened the opening in her chest further, to spill even more of her organs. _

_He became an artist lost in his work. His claws the brushes, the walls the palette, and the blood the paint…_

_END FLASHBACK_

The Hokage sat in silence as Naruto told his side of the story. After Naruto was finished with recounting the ordeal he still remained silent, but now it was to contemplate the repercussions of what Naruto had done.

"Well Naruto, I know that you never intended to…," the Hokage stopped as he saw Naruto's visible reaction to what he knew the Hokage's next statement was going to be. "Naruto, I know you didn't mean to do what you did, but what's done is done, and now we must figure out what happens next."

Naruto nodded his head, understanding the Hokage's words.

"Tonight's been a rough night for everyone. How about we put this off until tomorrow?" The Hokage sighed remembering that Naruto didn't have a place to sleep at the moment.

"Well Naruto, since you don't have a place to sleep tonight, how about I let you sleep here?"

Naruto seemed to brighten a little at the Hokage's statement, and then realized he was still strapped to his chair.

The Hokage watched as Naruto looked down to his arms and quickly realized the arm restraints were still in place.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I forgot to unstrap you."

The Hokage deftly unlatched Naruto's arms and helped him to stand.

"So how about that bed Naruto?"

"Hai."

Naruto followed the Hokage through the weaving hallways of the Hokage tower, until they reached his office. Once inside the Hokage showed Naruto to a side room that a bed and other basic necessities.

"Here's where you'll sleep tonight Naruto. Is this alright?"

"Hai."

The Hokage began to worry about Naruto's single syllable answers, but decide maybe a good night's rest would help him.

"Well, here's where I take my leave. Rest assured Naruto, no one will bother you tonight."

"Hai," responded Naruto again.

Naruto walked over to the bed, and after removing his jacket and pants, slipped into the large, soft bed. He didn't think he had ever felt such a soft bed. He slipped into a deep slumber right as his head had hit the pillow.

The Hokage looked at the small boy as he slept peacefully. The Hokage left the room soon after, closing the door so that no one would disturb the child's rest.

"What have you gotten yourself into Naruto?" the Hokage sighed.

As Naruto opened his eyes he saw nothing around him. His entire being was surrounded by a vast bleak void.

"Whe—where am I?"

A deep laughter was heard throughout the void.

"_You truly don't know? Well I guess I can't blame such a weak creature."_

"Sh—shut up!" Naruto screamed back at the empty void.

"_Well it's true is it not? You weren't even able to stop a pathetic female villager without help."_

Naruto flinched as if he'd been struck. "You don't know what you're talking about. She… she was my friend."

"_Oh, really? So am I to assume that by strangling you, your Momo-chan was showing friendship?"_The deep voice chuckled at its own sarcasm.

This time Naruto was so taken back by the voice's words that he couldn't even voice his defense of Momo.

"_And now that I have your attention, I have some questions."_ Not waiting for Naruto to respond to the voices request it began to speak once again, _"Do you want power? The power to protect those you love, and more importantly to take revenge on those that have done you harm?"_

Naruto's brow creased in concentration as he thought over the voices words.

"I…I want to become stronger so I can be free…to show people they don't have to be afraid of me…so things like that don't ever have to happen again."

"_You must find yourself a teacher. One that can teach you the arts of combat and the mind. Once you are stronger, we may speak directly again. Until then I will be watching."_

**

* * *

M**

Naruto opened his eyes, and looked around the room. It seemed alien and foreign, but not in a bad way. Now that there was a natural light in the room, Naruto felt more at peace. Sun-light had always made him feel more peaceful. Everyone had the same sun, no matter who they were: orphan, ninja, civilian, or even Hokage. That simple fact made it easier for Naruto to accept that on some primitive, unseen level, everyone was equal.

As he got out of bed he noticed a large, adult man's shirt laying on the chair. As opposed to his stained clothes, he decided to take the unspoken offer and change into it. Once he had, he took a long look out his window. Blood had been spilled the night before, but the sun still rose like it normally did. Not much stopped the sun from rising.

Wandering around the Hokage tower was easy. No one took a second look at the five year boy in a large shirt. At least not in front of him. Every time they walked past him, Naruto got a sharp feeling in his back, as if someone was watching him, or as if he was too paranoid. That feeling was starting to become more familiar as of late.

Finding the Hokage's office was even easier. As soon as the sharp looks in his back got more immense, he was nearing his destination. The Jonin that guarded, or in this situation, merely stood at the front of the tower, said nothing to Naruto, only stared. Naruto pushed the door open, with a large feeling of being unwanted in the air, and entered the room of the Hokage, a person he had only known as a nice old man.

"Ahh, Naruto, it's good to see you up." The old man smiled. Those words and the following smile washed away all of the negative feelings in the air.

Naruto fumbled for words. "Good morning, Hokage-sama." Was all he could put out? He knew he had something to say to him, but he had forgotten along the way, or hadn't known from the start.

"Your apartment is cleaned up now, Naruto, so whenever you want to go home, just let me know." The Hokage took a puff of his pipe after saying this.

"Thank you." He squeaked.

The door opened and a man entered. Naruto didn't recognize him, but noticed he didn't have the same negative feeling following him, like most everyone else did. He didn't have the good feeling that the Hokage and formerly Momo had. He just didn't carry one.

He felt empty.

Itachi bowed as he entered the room. After the formalities, he walked right past the child without giving him a second look and rested a folder on the Hokage's desk.

"This is the report that you requested of me, Hokage-sama." After he spoke, he stepped back.

"Thank you for getting this to me so quickly, Itachi-san, but I said this was due in a week. You didn't have to get it to me so soon."

Itachi didn't respond. The Hokage looked at the young boy, and Itachi now accepted him into his field of individuals: a personal spectrum of people around who are gaining recognition.

As the Hokage turned he spoke. "Naruto, why don't we go out of eat for breakfast and find you something better to change into." Sarutobi gave the traditional Hokage-smile. All previous Hokage had the same smile while they were in office.

The boy nodded, and Itachi looked into his eyes. He saw something.

It wasn't anything physically visible in the eye, but it was something behind it instead. It was Potential. Itachi instantly became curious with the level of Potential he sensed. It wasn't the type of thing that normal people could notice just by looking at someone. Instead, only someone else with great Potential, like Itachi, could recognize. This boy had a rare type of Potential, something that Itachi only saw in the mirror, and in the eyes of his little brother. However, without proper guidance, Potential could easily be wasted. He felt the immediate need to see how great this other's potential was. Itachi's own brother, who had shown great promise once, was starting to fall under Itachi's expectations. Perhaps it was time Itachi accepted that his brother wouldn't hold up to the same expectations Itachi had of himself.

Just as Potential can only be recognized by Potential, thus can it only be brought out by someone with the same great Potential. Itachi felt the need to return the favor for the one who had shown Itachi the way. This is why he struggled with his brother. Adults were too old; any Potential would already have been wasted. It could only be grown in a small child. This boy seemed to be about Sasuke's age.

A million things ran through Itachi's mind all at once. Finally, he came to a conclusion, all under a few second.

The boy's eye brightened. "Can we go for ramen!!?"

The Hokage chuckled. "Yes, Naruto, we can go for ramen. Now let's get going, I know the perfect place, and it opens soon."

The Hokage stood, ready to leave, with the excited boy following close behind him.

Itachi turned around to face the back of Sarutobi. "Excuse me, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage turned to face him. "Yes, Itachi-san?"

"May I speak with you tonight, provided you have time?"

The Hokage paused as if to think. "Of course, just come by later." And he left with the boy.

Itachi stood alone in the empty room. Potential was a horrible thing to be wasted or ignored. People were not all born the same, as some, a select few, were made better then others. Potential is something that you need to be born with, and then trained. The knowledge and skills of all those previous were passed on to the next generation. This is simply the process of evolution. Itachi himself felt great things ahead of himself. No, in fact, he knew there were great things ahead of himself. The one who taught him had assured it of him. If Itachi had so much destiny in front of him, just imagine what the next generation could do. It was endless possibilities.

His and the boy's meeting the night before was fated to happen.

* * *

The dark haired boy was sure to be on time for his meeting with the Hokage that evening. He was even somewhat surprised that the man had said yes. It wasn't an official meeting, it was just a talk. Itachi and Sarutobi were both in the Hokage Tower's lounge. The old man took turns religiously smoking from his pipe and taking bites of a sandwich.

"What was it you wanted to talk about, Itachi-san? It isn't like you to speak your mind." The old man gave the Hokage smile again. This man had somehow gotten to know his entire village on a personal level. That's what over twenty years of being Hokage does to someone.

"That boy, Uzumaki Naruto. Who is he?" Itachi asked. His voice was calm and controlled, every syllable spoken with precision.

"What exactly is it about him that you wanted to know? You know about as much as any adult in this village."

"That isn't what I wanted to know about." To Itachi, the boy being the container of a demon was just extra. It wasn't what interested him in the first place. "Who is he, not what is he."

"He's an orphan. Both of his parents died when the Kyuubi attacked." Sarutobi put it the simple way. "He doesn't have a clan either and no family that would be interested in him. He says he wants to be a ninja, but I'm not sure he would know what else to do with himself. Is that what you wanted to know?"

Itachi was quiet. Though he was still young himself, he felt like he needed to do something. "Hokage-sama, with your permission, I would like to tutor Uzumaki Naruto." He said simply.

The Hokage looked a little surprised. He took a bite out of his sandwich, and responded while chewed. "Why? I mean, you have your own studies and trainings to attend to, especially if you intend on being able to join ANBU next year."

"I assure you that I won't fall behind with my own studies and trainings." Itachi said simply.

Sarutobi hesitated for another moment.

"You take B-Rank missions. They can take a while."

"I can also assure you that I won't fall behind in my missions, Hokage-sama."

The old man thought about it a little bit longer. The boy had just been traumatized by his own caretaker trying to kill him. Could he really let him be around someone like Itachi? He wasn't a bad boy…but he wasn't very good at socializing, though that described half the Uchiha clan.

Sarutobi sighed. "Monday next week, I'll let you tutor him. Be careful, Itachi."

The young Chuunin stood. "Why would I do have to? I have these eyes after all."

With that the boy strode out of the lounge.

The Hokage looked sadly at his sandwich, and then reluctantly put it down.

"Oh…he just had to go and ruin my appetite…"

* * *

"_What is the Hokage thinking…?"_ Naruto pondered. First he gave him a nanny, and now he's sent a tutor? It…hasn't even been a week. Why does he want to watch me so bad?

"_It's because he's afraid of you, just as everyone else is."_

That was the other thing. Naruto had developed a sort of inner voice that helped him make decisions. He decided that the voice was his conscience, or the good part of him inside. Since he had done something so…evil, the voice naturally had to be his good side.

"_But…that doesn't explain anything." _Naruto simply thought to answer back.

"_Humans are afraid of what they don't understand, and that fear becomes hate. They don't understand you, young one. Thus, in order for them not to hate, you have to help them understand."_

See? That voice was obviously good. It was telling Naruto to let everyone know about him, that way they could all get along. It was definitely his conscience.

The doorbell rang and Naruto answered it, only to be greeted by a dark haired ninja boy. It only took a moment for Naruto to remember him as the young man who came to see the Hokage while he was meeting with Naruto. His appearance isn't what gave his identity away though. It was his vibe. He felt neutral. He didn't hate Naruto. He didn't particularly feel happy and accepting like the Hokage or Momo did, but he definitely didn't feel negative energy from him.

So this was his tutor? A ninja? Why would the Hokage send a ninja to watch out for him? Maybe it was because of what happened to Momo. They probably became even more afraid of him. Well, he'd have to do as his conscience said and try harder to make them understand.

He gave the boy a grand tour of his small apartment, though not saying anything unnecessary. Once they were done, Naruto plopped himself in the couch of his tiny living room.

"Do you have something against me, Naruto-kun?" Itachi spoke. Naruto hadn't been called 'kun' by anyone before.

Naruto didn't say anything, just crossed his arms and looked away. "You're just here 'cause no body thinks I can take care of myself."

Itachi didn't tell him he was wrong. Instead, he reached into his pocket and took out a small notebook and pencil.

"Tell me, Naruto-kun, do you know how to read and write?"

Naruto looked up surprised, and slowly shook his head.

Itachi sat down next to him and pulled open a blank page.

"I have the week off. I'm going to spend time teaching you how to read and write, as well as time management, exercise training, and life skills."

There was a long pause as Itachi began drawing out several characters.

"Why is the Hokage making me learn this stuff?" Naruto exclaimed standing and pointing accusingly at Itachi.

"He isn't. I volunteered."

Naruto froze. "Volen…teered?"

Itachi nodded.

"But why?!"

"Maybe I'll tell you someday. But I'm definitely not telling it to an illiterate five year old. Now sit."

And with that Itachi began showing Naruto letters and characters, first starting with his name.

After an hour of practice, Naruto was annoyed and just threw the pencil at the floor as he stood.

"This is too hard!" He exclaimed.

Itachi just sat calmly. "I think it's about time I left. I'll be back tomorrow to continue with you, Naruto-kun."

With that Itachi stood and excused himself from the rest of today's lessons. It went…not as well as he had hoped it would.

Naruto just stood with his arms crossed, glaring at the pencil and notebook as if it had been their fault.

"_He sacrificed time out of his day to come and teach you, young one. You should be more respectful and not let his time have gone to waste."_

Naruto shook his head, completely disagreeing with his conscience. However, the more he thought about it, the more the felt guilty, and the more he knew his conscience was right.

He reluctantly picked up the pencil and continued to write out his name with the letters that Itachi had shown him.

* * *

Itachi was surprised that Naruto had completely memorized all of the letters, the sounds they made, and how to write them in one night. The boy looked exhausted when he opened the door for his tutor.

Still, the little blonde wasn't happy when there was even more work to do. Besides, reading and writing, Itachi showed him what muscles he should train and methods to train them, along with how he could benefit from them at his young age, and more often then not, could use without damaging his young muscles.

After this the Uchiha took Naruto out to the park where he showed them some pictures. They seemed like vague images, ones that Itachi himself made, which was true. If the dark haired boy had any doubts about Naruto's Potential, they were easily dismissed with simple yet promising answers to the simple mental puzzles.

Naruto was beat when they started to head back to his apartment, to do even _more_ reading and writing studies.

"Think we could stop by and get some ramen, Itachi-sen?" Naruto squeaked. The older boy shook his head.

"Ramen might be fun to eat, but you have to stick to a strict diet in order to grow strong as you should. We'll talk about that soon."

Soon happened to be the minute they stepped foot in the door. Naruto, now possessing the mildest of reading knowledge, would have to use it everyday as of now to see what was on his diet. Itachi, using a calendar bought to show Naruto what he'd need to be doing everyday. It was filled in with food schedules, mostly grown up food that Naruto knew he wouldn't enjoy but would eat none the less because Itachi had provided the food, and then times for reading and writing, exercise, free time and lunch, then back to the reading and writing. Naruto even got a book to read.

"_Licentia_?" Naruto asked as he received the thick book. It was followed by a dictionary, and then a description about how to use the later.

"What's this book about, Itachi-sen?"

"It's about strange creatures that once plagued the world, called the Bijuu. They are a very mysterious and powerful group of creatures, all unique, the last of their species."

"But…why is it called _Licentia_? What does that mean?"

"You'll find out Naruto. Just remember to follow the schedule I gave you. Now, I'll be back tomorrow.

Itachi turned and left the apartment. That concluded two of the five days that he would be around to show Naruto what he'd have to do. The rest would be up to the boy.

**

* * *

K**

Itachi was surprised again to find that Naruto had read the entire book in one night. Still that was not the only purpose for giving him the book.

"So Naruto, what did you think of the book?"

"It was awesome! Those Bijuu things are so cool sounding! I mean the way they described it was so cool!"

"Did you get the hidden meaning though?"

"Uhh… hidden meaning? I thought it was just a cool book. Was I supposed to look for the hidden meaning Itachi-sensei?" asked Naruto innocently.

"Always look for a hidden meaning Naruto. There may not always be one, but its better to always look in case there is."

"Oh… okay then," said Naruto, his excitement drained noticeably. "So what am I gonna be reading next?"

"Well Naruto if you'd just look into my eyes I'll tell you."

Naruto looked up at Itachi in confusion, but looked into his eyes none the less. "What do your eyes have to do with…" Naruto stopped speaking as he saw Itachi's eyes turn red and sprout three black dots around the pupil. He watched as the dots spun around the pupil, and couldn't help but forget everything he was doing and just stare at Itachi's eyes.

"Naruto, forget what you read in that book, but don't forget the skills you practiced."

"Hai."

Naruto's body relaxed as Itachi's eye's stopped spinning and returned to their normal appearance.

"So what book am I gonna be reading Itachi-sensei?"

Itachi pulled a thick book from behind his back and handed it to Naruto.

"Licentia?" asked Naruto as he received the book. "What's this book about, Itachi-sen?"

"It's about strange creatures that once plagued the world, called the Bijuu. They are a very mysterious and powerful group of creatures, all unique, the last of their species."

"But…why is it called _Licentia_? What does that mean?"

"You'll find out Naruto. Now let's get started on your schedule."

Naruto did all the required tasks on the calender and Itachi helped him whenever he had trouble, whether with some exercise's or during reading and writing. 

"Well Naruto, you did well today. We'll be continueing where we left off tomorrow, but I must be going now," said Naruto as he stood to leave.

"Aw, and I was just getting into it. Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow Itachi-sensei."

* * *

The next two days were almost exactly the same as the previous. Naruto would read Licentia the night before Itachi returned, and Itachi would question him on the hidden meaning. The answers progressively more intelligent, but wrong none the less. At which point Itachi would hypnotise Naruto and make him forget he read the book.

At the end of the fifth day Itachi turned to Naruto during their writing lesson.

"Naruto, I won't be able to see you again for almost a week. I want you to continue your schedule however, and read Licentia."

Naruto was saddened to learn that he wouldn't get to see Itachi for a week, but he put a smile on for Itachi. "Alright Itachi-sensei."

Itachi stood and left the apartment. That concluded the first five days of Naruto learning from Itachi.

_

* * *

Intermission_

Take a break, you just read a ton. Get some fresh air, hit the bathroom, grab a drink, whatever you have to do, but make sure you take a breather.

**K:** So have you been working on _Licentai_? God that sounds so weird coming out of my mouth.

**M:** No, I haven't, I had the flu, you insensitive jerk. And yeah, it does.

**K:** You're a loser, how do you get the flu in March? You should be spending your time writing my story.

**M:** Why _am_ I writing parts of your story? Why don't you start writing parts of _my_ story for me?

**K:** You didn't ask.

**M:** Would you write parts of my story for me?

**K:** No

* * *

Three years later:

Naruto's body stood rooted to the ground in the exact spot where Itachi had asked him to leave. His mind kept turing the situation over in his mind, and he wondered if he had done the right thing. After many minutes of painful silence, Naruto turned and began walking back to his apartment.

The decision of whether to stay or go had been the hardest thing he had ever to do. Here was the one person who had proved over and over again to Naruto that he wasn't like the others. He had helped him grow, and become stronger. And yet, at the end he left like everyone else had so far. Itachi may have given him the choice to follow, but it just felt like a false choice.

As Naruto entered his apartment, he decided to forgo turning the lights on and walked blindly to his bedroom. After closing the door and removing his jacket, Naruto fell into his bed hoping for a dreamless slumber. Naruto's wish would be filled in a way.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling. He also noticed that he was lying in a pool of shallow water. As he picked himself up from the pool he noticed that it wasn't in fact a pool of water, but an entire hallway. The hallway was a dreary brown and had pipes running along the ceilings.

"_Where am I?"_ Naruto thought to himself.

Naruto began to make his way down the hallway in search for some answers. He noticed small intersecting passageways during his trek through the hallway, but decided it was better to just stick with the main passage.

As Naruto turned a corner he found himself in a rather large opening. On the opposite side of the wall was a huge gate. The gate and the opening beyond were large enough to fit Naruto's entire apartment in, and then some.

"Where the hell am I?"

"Do you still not know?" answered a familiar voice from the depths of the cage, which chuckled lightly.

'Where have I heard this voice? It's on the tip of my tongue' thought Naruto.

"I notice confusion on your face. Do you not remember when we last spoke? Do you not remember your past sins?"

That's when it hit Naruto. This was the voice that had spoken to him after the incident with the one he thought was his friend. This was the voice that had told him to find someone to teach him, and he had. He had done what this voice had asked. Now it was time to see what was the next step.

"From the look of realization plastered on your face I'm guessing you realize when we last spoke."

"Yes," replied Naruto. "I have done what you asked. I have found myself a teacher, one that has taught me the basics of being a ninja and the powers of the mind and body."

"A teacher that has also left you, if I'm not mistaken."

Naruto visibly winced at the voices statement. "Yes, it is true that he has left. That is why I ask what is the next step?"

"The next step, huh? The next step is to continue training. Though you may have learned the powers of the mind and body, you have not perfected them. You are but a dull knife when it comes to these matters. You must sharpen your mind, so that you may outwit any opponent. And you must sharpen your combat skills, so that you may not be overthrown in battle."

Naruto took in the voices speech, commiting it to memory so that he would never have to ask for it again. He was slightly dissapointed that there wasn't anything more to the next step then more training, but he understood the reasoning.

"I understand what you have said… sensei. I will continue with my training, arigatou," replied Naruto with a deep bow towards the cage. Naruto's image faded away as his body woke from his slumber.

"Hmm… I guess that first teacher wasn't so bad. He did manage to teach the boy some manners, something I thought impossible. I should come up with some training methods for the kid. After all, I _am_ his _sensei_." The voice let a deep and demonic laugh, that echoed throughtout the corriders of the childs mind.

* * *

Naruto awoke to the blaring of his alarm clock. Even though last night had been rather strenous on his emotions, he still had to go to school.

As he rose from bed he grabbed a set of clothes that he'd where for the day. The thought of non-orange clothes had taken some getting used to, but when they're all you have left to wear you get used to them fast.

'Damn Itachi-sensei, and his evil katon jutsu.'

Naruto took a shower to clean away anything that had attached itself to him the previous day. After his shower performed his daily ritual of hygienical tasks and put on the choosen clothes. Today he had choosen his usual navy blue cargo pants and a black T-shirt with and orange swirl on the front. This was his favorite outfit and he had many sets of them. He slipped on his pair of black toeless ninja sandles, and made his bed. Afterwards he made his way to the kitchen and began to eat his breakfast, which consisted of plain corn flake cereal and a glass of orange juice. Naruto placed his dishes in the sink, to wash later, and left his apartment, locking the door behind him.

Naruto noticed, as he made his way to the academy, that everyone was rushing to wherever it was that they were going.

'What's gotten into everyone?'

Minutes later Naruto found himself in front of the academy. As he entered the classroom, he noticed the general look of similar confusion on each of his peer's faces. He aslo noticed that Sasuke was not present, which was odd because Sasuke was usually one of the first to arrive.

The class quieted as Iruka entered the classroom, a worried look displayed on his face.

"Everyone, you may have noticed the urgent way at which people went about their business throughout the village. I am not at privalege to tell you, seeing as I'm only your teacher. I'm sure you parents will tell you of the current situation when you get home. The only other announcement I have is that there will be no school today, so you can pack up and return home."

The class forgot completely about Iruka's earlier statement, and cheered for the cancelation of school. After their initial joy faded a roar of whispered convesations could be heard as each student began to speculate at the cause of no school.

Naruto just sat in his chair, a slight look of sadness on his face. He had no parents which to return home to, or tell him of what was going on. He decided that he would go and ask the hokage.

Naruto didn't notice the pair of eyes watching him as he left the classroom.

Iruka's worried look returned as he saw Naruto's reaction to the announcement.

"_I hope he'll be alright."_

* * *

Naruto had walked to the hokage's tower immediately after class. He wanted to find out just what was going on.

As Naruto walked up the stairs and through the halls on his way to the hokage's office, he sensed the steady increase in the glares people directed towards his back.

"_Well at least some things never change."_

Naruto knocked on the door of the hokage's office, not wishing to interupt anything important.

"Come on in," loudly answered the hokage.

Naruto pushed the door open and walked into the office, shutting the door behind him.

"Hokage-sama, I was wondering if you could tell me what's stirred up the village so much. Seeing as I have no parents, I thought to come to you."

The hokage sat quietly mulled over Naruto's request.

"Well Naruto, a very grave thing just occurred last night." The hokage paused to think over how to word his next statement. "Last night, the entire Uchiha clan was massacred."

Naruto's face showed surprise and worry, as he asked his next question. "W—who was responsible for this?"

"… Uchiha Itachi."

Naruto fell to his knees, a hand gripping his forehead, as if it make the revelation any easier.

"_S—so this is why he was leaving."_

Naruto slowly got to his knees, both arms falling to his side.

"Are there no survivors?"

"Only one. He is the brother of Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke."

* * *

Sasuke was restrained in a hospital bed. He was rushed to the hospital when ANBU had stumbled upon the scene. He was checked over for injuries, but when none were found he was left by himself. He was restrained due to the intense convulsions that had racked his body coupled with banshee like cries.

His voice had given out after an hour, and his convulsions had quit soon after. For the rest of the night he lay in complete silence. The hospital orderlies had left after his convulsion had stopped. His eyes were open wide and staring at the ceiling above. A single thought was running through his mind as he stared.

"_How could he?"_

This continued on through the week, small convulsions occuring every so often resulting in his extended stay at the hospital. Finaly a week after the Uchiha massacre, as it was now reffered to, Sasuke's mind reached a simple solution.

"I'll kill him."

* * *

The past week had been strange, and Naruto didn't like it one bit. He was used to the natural order. Iruka would give his boring lectures, and chuck erasers at those who tried to sleep through them. When a question was asked Sakura's hand would shoot up, along with those that knew the answer. And Sasuke's arrogant attitude during physical education. Naruto knew that Sasuke was the root of the disturbance.

Thus everyone was surprised to see the root of the anomalys walk through the classroom door. Everyone watched with baited breath as he walked over to his usual seat and sat down. Only when Sasuke threw them all a dark scowl did they turn back to their previous engagements.

Naruto watched all this from the back of the classroom. He noticed that Sasuke seemed darker, compared to his normal cheery disposition. The dark scowl he had flashed at everyone earlier still graced his face. Whenever he was asked how he was he'd just grunt in reply or ignore the person, otherwise he'd stare out the window next to his seat silently thinking about something. In essence, Sasuke was brooding.

Now Naruto had nothing against Sasuke, and he could understand Sasuke's general demeanor. Afterall, his entire family had just been massacred by his only brother. However, Naruto just didn't like the feel of the situation. Naruto decided that he'd try to appease this anxiety.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Naruto as he approached Sasuke.

Sasuke continued staring out the window, appearing to ignore Naruto's question entirely, until he tilted his head in Naruto's direction and looked up at his face.

"I'll kill him," he whispered.

Naruto's remained expressionless, though he was experiencing many emotions. It was perfectly understandable that Sasuke would want to kill his brother. He had after all murdered his entire clan. But Itachi had still tutored Naruto at a time when no one cared that he existed, thought not much had changed since then.

"Hn," grunted Naruto as he turned and walked away.

"So how's he taking it?" quietly asked Shikamaru as Naruto sat behind him.

"Not sure, but definetely not well. He may look alright, but I guarentee he'll eventually lose it. The only question is how long will it take," whispered Naruto.

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru as he turned back around.

Iruka chose that moment to walk into the class, and end all discussions.

"Alright class, nothing new to the schedule today, so lets get started on the lecture."

Iruka was met with several moans of displeasure from the class.

"_Well at least the class is starting to act more normal."_

* * *

Naruto headed to his usual training area after class had ended. He performed his usual warm-ups and then sat in the middle of the clearing, waiting for his instructions of the day.

"_I see you have finished your warm-ups,"_ said the voice that had now become Naruto's sensei.

"_Hai, sensei."_

The wind blew some leaves past Naruto, as the voice thought of what to do today.

"_Today we shall practice your chakra control. I want you to climb a tree using only your feet and chakra."_

"_Hai, sensei."_

Naruto stood from his sitting position and walked to the largest tree he could find. He began to circulate chakra through his feet, and was about to place his first foot on the trunk when something snapped in his mind. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as a forgotten memory began playing in his mind.

_Flashback_

"_We are going to climb trees today Naruto. You'll do this by circulating a specific amount of chakra through your feet at a constant rate," stated Itachi._

_End Flashback_

Naruto used the exact amount of chakra his mind told him to use, and he climbed the tree perfectly in his first go.

Naruto's eyes returned to their normal position, and he shook his head to clear his head. Along with the memory came the knowlegde of exactly how to do the exercise.

"W—what was that?" asked Naruto as he stared at his shaking hands.

"_That was a memory that your old sensei had locked away in your mind."_

"W—what? But Itachi-sensei only taught me scholastic material. He didn't teach me any ninja material."

"_Actually he did, but he hypnotized you to forget them."_

Naruto's eye's widened at this new information. _"So what else did he teach me?"_

"_You'll find out if your placed in a situation that calls on the locked memories."_

Naruto's face fell in obvious disappointment. "Well so much for that. So now that I have tree climbing down, what next?"

"_Lets see if you were taught water walking. It's similar to the tree climbing, but you have to keep a varying amount of chakra in your feet to stay balanced. Now go find yourself a stream."_

Lucky for Naruto there was a stream not to far from his current training ground. Naruto pushed chakra into his feet and slowly lowered his foot to the water, scrunching his face up as his foot neared the water. As his foot touched the water and nothing happened he let out a sigh of dissappointment.

"Well I guess I have to actually do this one."

Naruto placed one foot on the top of the water and then the other, and promptly sunk to the bottom.

"_Not enough."_

Naruto began to concentrate more chakra to his feet. His feet began to slowly rise from the bed of the stream.

"Alright! I'm doing it."

However in Naruto's lapse of concentration he shoved to much chakra to his feet and blew them out from under him, forcing him to land face first in the water.

"_And that's what happens when you have too much."_

"Shut it," replied Naruto as he pushed himself up from the stream.

By the end of the day Naruto could keep himself up and not sink, but only if he concentrated the whole time. 

"_Alright, I want you to keep doing that every time you train until its almost second nature to you. After that I'll give you antoher task."_

"_Hai, sensei."_

Naruto walked wearly walked home, tired from all his training. He received the usual glares from all the villagers.

Naruto dropped face first onto his bed after he had made it home. After slipping out of his pants and jacket he immediately fell asleep.

* * *

It took Naruto three months to master water walking. He would now instinctively push chakra to his feet right before he walked onto the water. He would also keep the current of chakra steady and change the necessary amount without thinking no matter what he was doing.

"_Now that I have mastered that sensei, what next?"_ thought Naruto.

"_I do not have your next training method fully worked out, so you should continue your normal routine while standing in the middle of the water."_

"_Hai, sensei."_

* * *

Four years later:

It was nearing the end of the academy, which signaled the genin exams. Many of the students in the class were nervous and getting antsy.

Unlike most students, Naruto wasn't worried at all. In fact he was sleeping at the back of the class with Shikamaru.

The two had become fast friends once realizing that neither was as dumb as they pretended to be. They were often seen playing shogi together, though Naruto would almost always lose.

The four years of training with his sensei had improved Naruto's skill exponentially. If he choose to Naruto could've made a run for rookie of the year. But seeing as how it would be an uphill battle with Sasuke, and Itachi had told him that it is better to be thought weak then for everyone to know your strengths. So Naruto did the minimum to pass and hung out with Shikamaru and his friend Chouji when he got the chance.

"Alright class settle down," announced Iruka as he entered the class. "Today we'll be reviewing for the genin exams."

"_That's the signal for me to put my head down,"_ thought Naruto as began to fall asleep.

Naruto's sleeping form went unnoticed as Iruka lectured to the class of the importance of hard work and studying. It was only when they were practicing the henge and Naruto's name had been called out that Iruka noticed his sleeping form.

"Naruto!" shouted Iruka as he chucked an eraser at Naruto's head. "Wake up!"

Naruto practically leapt from his chair in fright when the eraser came in contact with his head along with the shouting. The class broke out into laughter at the slight of him being so scared.

"Get up here now!"

Naruto walked up to the front of class and lazily brought his hands up in the right seals.

"Henge," said Naruto lazily, as he pumped chakra through the hand seals.

A cloud of smoke covered Naruto as the jutse took effect. When it cleared, an clone of Iruka remained.

"Lets see, missing my scar, too short, all the equipment is on the wrong side, and the skin color is off," announced Iruka as he looked over Naruto's jutsu. "But it's good enough to allow you to pass, so go sit back down."

Naruto dispelled the jutsu and lazily made his way up the stairs and back to his desk.

Shikimaru just rolled his eyes as Naruto sat down, uttering his famous catch phrase, "Troublesome."

After Iruka had finished calling out names he walked back to the front of the class.

"Alright guys, this years bunch promises to be a good one. I expect most of you will pass, but don't let me saying that go to your head. You should all practice a bit more, and get a good nights rest tonight. I'll see you tomorrow for the genin exams."

Having finished his speech to the classroom, Iruka sat back down at his desk and started filling out some paperwork about the performance of the students today.

* * *

As Naruto walked out of the classroom he began to converse with his sensei.

"_So sensei what shall I do today?"_ thought Naruto in an offhand manner.

"_Just do the normal routine. Nothing too hard, after all you have the exam tomorrow."_

Naruto made his way to the clearing that he normally trained in and walked out onto the pond and began his normal warm up excercises.

After he was done he sat down and began to meditate. As he meditated he gathered up all his chakra and held it in a ball inside his chest. He slowly siphened out chakra to parts of his body to make sure that they could still function, and to keep him afloat. This part of his traing took him five minutes to complete. In the past when he had first started this exercise it could take him up to an hour just to get the chakra into a ball. After a few years of practice however, he had finally mastered the training method and could do it fairly quickly now. The method helped him train chakra control and stamina. Once he could actually complete the exercise he began to gather the ball of chakra in vaious places in his body, thus helping him with passing chakra through the body. It also helped his stamina by forcing him to exercise in an exaushted state, but slowly syphon chakra to his muscles to keep him from passing out. And the crompressing of the chakra into a dense ball helped to mask his chakra. He'd normally have been doing the exercise throughout the day, but his sensei told him not to, so that he'd be refreshed for the exams.

Once he had finished setting up his first exercise, he started the next one that he had learned from his sensei. He took tendrils of chakra and began to push them out through various tenketsus and bring them back trough others. Although he couldn't recycle the chakra he had brought back into his body, he could keep pushing that tendril out through other tenketsu until it completely dissappated. This chakra exercise had helped build chakra capacity and control, though the control for this centered around forcing out proper amounts of chakra through many of the tenketsu on his body. He had learned at the start of this exercise that too little chakra and the tendril would instantly dissapate upon leaving the body, and too much and it would leave burns along his body and tenketsu.

After he finished his training Naruto returned home and made himself some dinner. After he had finished and cleaned his dishes, he prepared for bed and went to sleep early.

* * *

Naruto woke up as groggy as ever, and placed his feet on the cold hard wood floor. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he made his way to the bathroom. As he looked in the mirror, the importance of the day finally hit him.

"_Today's the gening exam!"_ exclaimed Naruto in his mind.

"Really_ I hadn't noticed. And can you keep it down, it's way to early to be this loud,"_ replied his sensei.

"_Sorry about that sensei."_

Naruto quickly jumped in the shower, and afterwards completed his daily hygene rituals. He made himself some breakfast after getting dressed. Naruto's manner of dress hadn't changed much over the years. He wore a loose fitting black, long-sleeved shirt with an orange swirl on the front. He wore dark brown cargo pants that had the lower legs taped down, so as to not get caught as he was running and trip him. He wore the average pair of black shinobi sandals, and had a shuriken holster on his right thigh and a kunai holster on his back waist.

As Naruto left his house he locked the door behind him. There had been a few times when the villagers had broken into his house and vandalized it, though the number of times they did it had gone down as he progressed through the academy.

"_They must think of set up traps or something. If I only I had something improtant enough to protect that I'd need traps,"_ thought Naruto as he was walking down the stairs to the street.

As he made his way to the academy he noticed the usual amount of guarded scowls, leers, and huddled whisperings.

"_Nothing new there. Still I'd like to know why they keep looking at me like that,"_ thought Naruto, though he didn't really expect an answer.

"_Look, I'll make you a deal,"_ replied Naruto's sensei.

"_What do you mean sensei? Do you know why they hate me?"_

"_Yes, as a matter of fact I do. The deal is if you can graduate from the academy and become a genin I will tell you the truth of why so many think so lowly of you."_

"_Then I'll do my best sensei."_

* * *

Naruto found himself standing in front of the academy at the end of his conversation with his sensei. Naruto sat himself down in his normal seat after he had entered the academy. However he didn't immediately go to sleep this time. Shikamaru was already seated, and was also awake. To Shikamaru's right was Chouji, eating a bag of chips as usual, though this time he seemed to be eating faster due to nervousness.

"Hey Chouji, don't worry so much about the exam. I guarentee you'll pass," calmly said Shikamaru to his friend. Chouji visibly calmed down a bit and was back to his normal pace.

Naruto watched this happen and decided he'd also help, "And if as a little incentive Chouji, I'll take you out to Ichiraku's for lunch if you pass."

This didn't just stop Chouji from being nervous, it also served to excite him and get him pumped for the upcoming exam. "It's on Naruto, I'll take you up on that offer. Be prepared to buy me as much ramen as I can eat."

Shikamaru smiled at Naruto and began to chuckle at Naruto's pale expression at Chouji's announcement.

"_I'm gonna have to dig deep to pay for his stomach,"_ thought Naruto as he let out a sigh.

Iruka choose that moment to walk into the class, and catch the classes attention.

"Alright guys, today is the genin exam. Before we start everyone just take a deep breath and calm down. Nervousness never helped anyone pass."

Most of the class did as Iruka suggested, and the class grew a little calmer.

"Now today for the gening exam, we will grade you on a written test, accuracy with shurikan, and whether you can perform the buunshin no jutsu or not. To pass you only need to pass two of the three tests, but we suggest you try to pass all three as it may affect your team placement."

Iruka's announcement was met with a few groans, but an over all wave of relief from most at finding that the exam wasn't going to be too hard.

"We'll start off by everyone doing the written portion of the exam, before we move onto the more practical aspect. When you receive your test keep it face down on the desk until I say to begin."

Iruka walked to the front of each row and hand the first person at each individual table a stack of tests, which they passed back as they took one and placed it face down. Once everyone had a test Iruka returened to the front of the classroom.

"You may now begin," stated Iruka.

Everyone flipped their papers over, as Iruka sat back down at his desk.

"_Hmm… This isn't to hard,"_ thought Naruto, as he calculated the number of questions he'd need to get right to get the lowest passing grade.

Sakura finished first, and as time passed more and more students finished and turned in their tests. Naruto finished his a few minutes before Iruka announced the end of the written portion. This was also met with the few groans of people who hadn't finished.

"Now I want all the students to line up on this side of the room," said Iruka pointing to the right side of the classroom. After they had finished lining up he handed the first one in line five shuriken. "Now you may throw these in any order and however many you want at once. You must get at least three on any target on the dummy."

Iruka recorded the results of everyone as they took their turn. When it came to Naruto he took the five shuriken and carefully aimed each one before letting it loose. He got one bullseye, two in circles around two other bullseyes, and two on the outer edges of the dummy.

"Good enough Naruto, next," stated Iruka.

Naruto made his way back to his seat, pleased with his results.

"_Sometimes faking one's skill is harder then it seems,"_ thought Naruto.

When it was Sasuke's turn the whole class grew quiet to watch his performance. Not one to dissapoint Sasuke took all five, two in one hand and three in the other, and threw them all at once. The shuriken flew through the air and all imbedded themselves in targets. Four had hit a dead bullseye, and one had hit in the surrounding circle. All his fangirls cheered, and some of the guys clapped. Sasuke just grunted and returned to his seat disspleased with his performance.

"_The arrogance of Sasuke still amazes me at times."_

Once everyone had finished throwing the shuriken and returned to their seats Iruka returned to the front of the class.

"Good job for the most part. Now we've arrived at the jutsu portion of the exam. As I have stated before this years jutsu is the buunshin no jutsu. When your name is called please come to this back room and perform the jutsu."

Naruto waited paitently watching as people entered the back room and returned wearing a hitai-ate or in some cases a down trodden expression. Of course when Sasuke returned with his all his fangirls swooned and he just arrogantly smirked.

Finally it was Naruto's turn. Naruto walked to the back room as his name was called and stood before Iruka and Mizuki.

"Alright Naruto, you can go at any time," said Mizuki.

Naruto stood for a few seconds and gathered just the right amount of chakra through his body before stating, "Buunshin." Naruto's body divided into two clones, with the original standing in the middle.

"Good Naruto, you have passed the genin exam," said Iruka, as he tossed Naruto a forehead protector.

"Thank you Iruka-sensei, and you too Mizuki-sensei," replied Naruto as he tied the hitai-ate to his forehead.

Naruto exited the room and returned to his seat. Shikimaru and Chouji flashed grins at him, and Naruto returned one likewise. They only had to wait for one more person, and that was Yamanaka Ino. She returned squeling with delight holding onto a forehead protector.

Once Ino had returned to her seat, Iruka began to speak once more. "Good work everyone. Even though you may have not passed this year, there is always next year. And for those of you who did, you are to return here in two days for your team assignments. That is all."

The class began to stand and leave at Iruka's dismissal.

"Naruto you owe me lunch at Ichiraku's," stated Chouji proudly displaying his hitai-ate.

"Hai, hai," gloomily replied Naruto.

* * *

Naruto was seated on his couch at home thinking of how to bring up his sensei's promise.

"_Sensei…"_

"_Yes, I know Naruto, we made a deal. Now I'd like you to come here before I tell you."_

Naruto remained sitting on his couch and began to meditate to enter his mindscape. Soon enough Naruto found himself standing ankle deep in water in front of a enormous cage.

"Sensei I am here. What is it that you know?"

"Do you know the tale of the Kyuubi no Kitsune Naruto?"

Naruto stood for a few seconds as he thought over all they had taught him in the academy.

"According to our books, he attacked Fire Country and Konoha twelve years ago. He was defeated by the Yondaime before he could destroy Konoha," replied Naruto.

"For the most part that is true. However there is one very large detail that has been left out of your books. The Yondaime Hokage did indeed defeat the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but he did not kill him. Instead he sealed the Kyuubi inside the stomach of a new born child…"

Silence permeated the room as Naruto took in this new information.

"It was me, wasn't it?" asked Naruto.

"Yes Naruto, the child that the Yondaime choose to seal the Kyuubi in was in fact you."

Naruto also took time to let this seep into his mind, before a look of shock spread across his face.

"You've firugred it out then have you?" asked his sensei.

"Y—you're the Kyuubi aren't you?"

Naruto heard padded footsteps and a large demonic fox head came into view from the shadows.

"**Yes, I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune,"** stated the Kyuubi revealing his true voice.

Naruto stood quivering looking down at the water, as the surprising information was confirmed. After a few minutes of silence Naruto turned his head back up to the Kyuubi before speaking.

"I think I'm okay with this," said Naruto a small smirk on his face.

The Kyuubi let of a light chuckle, which soon turned into a roaring laugh.

"**I knew there was a reason why I liked you. So have you decided about leaving yet?" **asked the Kyuubi.

"My decision still stands. I have yet to find what I'm looking for," replied Naruto.

"**Fine then, all I can hope for is that you get a good sensei."**

"Hai… sensei," smirked Naruto.

A smirk graced the Kyuubi's face as Naruto left his mind scape.

When Naruto woke he found it to be morning. He spent the first part of the day getting his picture taken for his ninja license. At lunch he met up with Chouji and fufilled his end of the bargain, losing much money in the process. At the end of the day he trained to work off some of the excess energy and returned home sweaty and tired. After taking a quick shower to clean himself and eating dinner Naruto went to sleep.

* * *

The next day Naruto was sitting in the Academy wait for Iruka to arrive and announce the teams the new genin would be placed on. After ten more minutes of waiting Iruka finally arrived with a paper in his hands.

"I'm glad to see all your faces today. Before I announce the teams I'd like you all to know that a lot of you will go far. Some in here will get to chuunin, and some even jounin. We may even have the next hokage in this class," lightly stated Iruka.

"Now onto the team assignments."

Most of the class sat forward in their seats in expectation.

(A/N: Alright I'm sure you've heard this before, but I am not going to make up eighteen random names just for the sake of naming the first six teams. Now back to the story.)

"Next, Team 7 will consist of Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Narto, and Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura jumped from here chair and uttered a cheer, while a few desks back Ino along with all of Sasuke's other fangirls let out a cry of sadness.

"Team 8 will consist of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzuku Shino. And finally Team 10 will be Yamanka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akamichi Chouji."

Iruka cleared his throat to regain the attention of the class once the list was done.

"Now, I'll announce you sensei's after lunch," stated Iruka.

And with that Iruka left, leaving the class to degrad into orderly chaos.

* * *

Team 7 was the only remaining group in the academy. Every other team's senseis had already arrived and escorted them out of the academy. Even Iruka had finally left, leaving the three to themselves.

Naruto and Sasuke were both sitting at the front of the classroom, while Sakura was pacing back and forth. Sasuke was staring out the window brooding, and Naruto was sleeping. Finally after an hour and a half the door to the classroom opened and a head poked in.

"Are you guys Team 7?" asked the masked man.

Three different gazes met the masked man's question. One was of cold idifference, with only the slightest hint of annoyance, one was of barely controlled rage, and the other was of tired uncertainty.

"Hai, sensei," said Sakura with just the slightest twitch.

Team 7's sensei took in the looks of his possible students before speaking again.

"My first impression is… I don't like you guys," replied Team 7's sensei. After a few seconds the masked sensei turned, and stopped in front of the door. "Alright, follow me."

* * *

Team 7 found themselves ontop of the Hokage's tower. Sitting on one of the few benches available, staring at their new sensei. 

"OK… Let's begin with some introductions," started the masked sensei.

"What do you want to know?" asked Naruto.

The man stopped and thought for a few seconds before he continued. "How about… Your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that," indifferently replied their sensei.

"Why don't _you_ start sensei," said Naruto.

"Yeah, what's with the mask?" asked Sakura.

"Well… My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you about my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the furture…? Hmm… Well, I have lots of hobbies."

"So… All we learned was his name," said Naruto, as he and Sakura sighed in defeat.

"Now it's your turn, from the right."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like reading, the opposite sex…"

"Pervert," stated Sakura.

"You don't count," replied Naruto as he turned to Sakura.

"Now, where was I? Ah, yes. I also like air conditioning, and non-judgemental people. I dislike blonde jokes, training, cheap-ass wool sweaters, and hurting others. My dream is to find the reason for my existence and to become truly free. And my hobbies are reading and training," finished Naruto.

"_Eh… I can handle him," _thought Kakashi. "Next."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike, but I don't really like anything. And I don't want to use the word "dream", but I have an ambition. The ressurection of my clan, and… To kill a certain man."

Sakura looked suprisedly towards Sasuke, while Naruto just continued to stare forward.

"_Cool"_

"_He still is intent on killing Itachi-sensei…"_

"… _I thought so."_

"Ok… And lastly the girl."

"I'm Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is… Well… The person I like is… Umm… My dream from the future is to become a certain someone's bride. And I dislike Ino-pig. My hobbie is…"

"_Girls of this age are more interested in love than ninjutsu…"_

"Okay! We will start our duties tomorrow."

Everyone perked up at Kakashi's announcement

"First we are going to do something with just the four of us," continued Kakashi.

"What are we gonna do sensei?" asked Sakura.

"Survival training."

"What do you mean training sensei? We did that in the academy," asked Sakura.

"I'm your opponent, but this isn't normal training."

Everyone's undivided attention was now on Kakashi, hanging on his every word.

"What do you mean sensei?" asked Sakura.

"Heh. When you hear this your gonna flip. Of the twenty seven graduates, only nine will be choosen to be genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is extreemly difficult exam with a failure rate of over 66."

Naruto and Sasuke's glares increased in intensity, while Sakura began to panic.

"_If I don't pass this, then how will I ever get Sasuke?"_

"_I have to pass. This is just one more step closer to freedom."_

"_I have to pass. This is just one more step closer to power."_

"S—so what was the point of graduating?" asked Sakura.

"Oh that? That's just to select those that have the potential to become genin. Anyway, tomorrow you will be graded on the training field. Bring all your shinobi tools. And don't eat breakfast, you'll throw up."

Kakashi handed them all papers outlining the details of the exam before leaving. Everyone remained silent as two read the paper, and one just smashed it in his hands.

**A/N:** This chapter took me awhile to write. This was partly because it was hard write, but also because I have a rampant case of laziness and amazing at making excuses that get me out of writing. I have most of the story already planned out in my head, it was just hard to get this first chapter out of the way. I hope to get the proceeding chapters out much faster, but I can't make any promises. The proceeding chapters will also be shorter then this behemoth. Now onto personnal thoughts about my own chapter. I know most of this is cliché and already been done, but I'd like to think I at least did cliché well. That'll be up to you to decide. I have big plans for this story, and a lot of the ideas I have never seen done before. Now I'm glad for anyone who stuck through to the end of this chapter, and I gladly appreciate it if you reviewed. I would rather get productive reviews, but any will let me know that you care enough. I'd rather not get flames, but when has that ever stopped anyone. I'll also try to make upcoming author's notes shorter. Until next chapter…


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Yet again my prevailing laziness delayed the completion of this chapter. I had finished almost half of it by the time I had posted the first chapter of this story, but it took my friend forcing me to write to finish the chapter (once again). Now I want to say a few things about a review I received from one Lord Myst. First of all I greatly apreciate the fact that you reviewed and the great advice offered to me. I know that the last chapter was very canon when it came to graduating and meeting Kakashi. I did this on purpose. I wanted a reference point in my story to show how far it will move from canon. And you will notice a few of those changes in this chapter, though they are not that large. As for relationships, this story will not be yaoi. I'm sorry to any readers who would've wanted that, but it's not my thing. If there will be any pairings at all... well I guess you'll just have to wait and see, though you may be waiting awhile. There is something else important that I have to add. This story is centered around Sasuke and Naruto. There will be points where an entire chapter may be devoted to one or the other. I hope that gives a general idea of what to expect from my story. Now onto the actual reading part:

* * *

Naruto awoke the next morning, and after performing his daily hygienic rituals, he ate breakfast. It wasn't that he'd forgotten what Kakashi said about eating breakfast, he just didn't care. He was hungry, and he was going to eat when he felt like it. 

Once Naruto had finished eating, and gotten dressed, he left his apartment and headed to the training grounds.

"_Well judging on how long it took sensei to show up yesterday, I'd say I have an hour to catch up on sleep," _thought Naruto as he made his way to the training grounds.

When Naruto arrived, he noticed that Sakura and Sasuke had already arrived. Sakura was tapping her foot in impatience, while Sasuke just leaned against a tree.

"I guarantee that Kakashi-sensei won't be here for at least another hour, so why don't you guys catch up on some sleep or warm up a bit," said Naruto to his two team mates.

"Don't insult sensei, Naruto," said a peeved Sakura

"Hn," was the only response with which Sasuke graced Naruto's suggestion.

Noticing the obvious disapproval of his suggestion Naruto decided to surrender and find a nice comfortable spot to sleep.

An hour later Naruto woke from his slumber to find an even more irked Sakura, and a nodding off Sasuke.

"Man that was a good nap," proclaimed Naruto as he stretched and yawned.

Sakura's eye began to twitch, the only sign that she was repressing large amounts of rage. Sasuke's head snapped up from its resting position.

"Yo," said Kakashi as he chose that moment to arrive. "I see that you are all here, so let's start the exam."

Sakura calmed down, and Naruto and Sasuke turned to the man for instructions.

"For today's exam I'm going to administer the bell test," started Kakashi. "Each of you will receive a bell, and the one at the end of the exam with three bells will become a Genin of Konoha."

"What if someone has two bells Kakashi?" asked Naruto.

"You need three Naruto, any less and everyone fails. Those who fail are sent back to the academy for more teaching. And most of those sent back never become ninja in their lives."

Naruto and Sasuke's demeanor visible become more determined, while Sakura's showed her internal struggle.

"_I can't possibly beat Sasuke, but maybe I could beat Naruto. After all he is the dead last."_

"When this clock goes off at noon the exam will be over. You must not underestimate your opponent, they may surprise you," stated Kakashi. "You have three hours, starting… Now."

The three jumped into the trees, and hid themselves to the best of their abilities. Kakashi jumped to the top of one of the larger trees and began to observe the progress of his potential students.

Sakura made her way through the trees as swiftly and silently as she could. She was searching for her target, Naruto. She found him perched on a branch at the edge of a clearing. He was watching the other side, not even noticing her arrival.

"_Perfect," _thought Sakura.

* * *

Sakura gathered Chakra to her feet, pulled a kunai out and lunged at Naruto's prone form. 

After Naruto had hid himself in the trees, he quickly found a good position for observing the entire area. Once found he created a buunshin and henged into a squirrel and began watching for any movements. No one would notice the squirrel thinking it was a natural feature of the forest.

Ten minutes after initially hiding, Naruto heard a twig snapping behind him. He quickly turned to see Sakura starring at his buunshin's back, planning what to do next. As she lunged at his buunshin's prone form, he silently released his henge and pulled a kunai from his pouch.

Sakura thrust the kunai she held in her hands into the back of her target. As Sakura passed through its body, she realized too late that it was a buunshin. She felt an arm encircle her neck, halting her lunge in mid air and cutting off the flow of air to her lungs.

"That wasn't very smart Sakura," said Naruto as he held a kunai to her neck. "I don't really want to fight you, so when I let you go I want you to leave and leave me be. Is that alright?"

Sakura nodded her head, unable to respond due to the lack of air.

"Alright," said Naruto as he loosened his grip.

That was Naruto's first mistake. Sakura slammed her elbow into Naruto's stomach, forcing the air out of his lungs and causing him to stumble backwards right off the branch. Naruto barely spun his body around allowing him to land on his feet instead of his head. He barely had time to catch his breath as Sakura dropped from the branch and continued to attack Naruto.

Naruto was to busy dodging and blocking Sakura's attacks to notice another presence watching the battle. It watched the battle observing the openings left in Sakura's guard as she attacked, and Naruto's lack of taking advantage of them.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu," shouted a voice.

Sakura didn't notice the large fireball headed straight at her back. However, Naruto did, and being the nice guy that he was he decided to do something about it.

"What are you doing!" shouted Sakura as she felt Naruto's arms encircle her and pull her to the ground.

"Nice save, dobe," commented a voice from the canopy.

Sakura looked up in surprise and noticed the rather large scorch mark just above where she lay. She looked up at the trees and noticed Sasuke's smirking form.

"It wasn't hard to dodge, especially with your loud voice," replied Naruto as he picked himself up.

Sakura watched in horrid surprise as Naruto pulled a kunai that was imbedded in his chest.

"_Was that mine?"_ thought Sakura

"Pathetic, even this fan girl can injure you," said Sasuke confirming Sakura's fears.

"_W—well it was his fault for grabbing me like that, he should have just let Sasuke-kun's jutsu hit him,"_ thought Sakura, ignoring the obvious fact that the jutsu was aimed at her as well.

"Are you through with talking?" asked Naruto, changing his grip on the kunai.

"Hn," snorted Sasuke as he smirked at Naruto's bleeding form.

Sasuke lunged at Naruto from his higher position, his arm pulled back with his hand clenched tightly in a fist. Naruto stepped aside as Sasuke's form came flying at him, and turned quickly as Sasuke landed and continued on the offense. He dodged and blocked all the punches that he could, with barely any getting through. Naruto caught Sasuke's leg as he tried to roundhouse kick him and used the momentum to throw him towards a tree. Sasuke spun in mid air and kicked off the tree as he came in contact with it, lunging at Naruto for the second time.

Sakura stood a few yards away watching the fight between her two teammates.

"_Naruto is better then I thought,"_ thought Sakura as she watched Sasuke continue his attack. _"But he's no match for Sasuke-kun. I wonder if I can help."_

Although only slightly difficult, Naruto didn't find it to hard to keep Sasuke from landing any hits. This didn't mean he had much time to land his own, and the wound he had received from Sakura was making it even more difficult to keep up with Sasuke, but he could manage. That was until he felt the cold hard steel slice through his upper arm as he blocked one of Sasuke's punches. He noticed the kunai that had just cut him imbed itself in a tree. He looked past Sasuke to the source of the kunai only to see Sakura with her arm extended.

"_Well, shit,"_ thought Naruto.

Naruto parried one of Sasuke's punches with his forearm and extended the arm planting his fist in Sasuke's face. Sasuke stumbled back, allowing Naruto to take the offensive. Naruto began pressing Sasuke towards one of the trees. At the next opening, he saw Naruto jabbed Sasuke in the face, stunning Sasuke and giving him the opportunity he needed. He punched Sasuke in the gut with as much force as he could, forcing Sasuke to bend over as the air rushed out of his lungs. Naruto quickly replaced himself with a log and left a buunshin in his place.

As Sasuke regained his breath, he noticed Naruto standing snidely in front of him. He through a quick jab at Naruto's head, and was confused as his arm passed through the boys head. A loud shout of, "Behind you Sasuke-kun," warned him of the impending strike directed at him from behind. Sasuke dropped and sweep kicked Naruto's legs out as his arm passed overhead.

Naruto felt his body falling forward as his legs were kicked out from under him. He planted his hand in the ground next to Sasuke's head, and pushed off flipping himself over into an upright position. That's when he noticed the three shuriken headed right at him. He tried to move from their path, but two firmly imbedded themselves in his arm. He fell to the ground gripping the bleeding arm, restraining the scream he so badly wanted to let out. He slowly picked himself up, only to feel a fist firmly plant itself in his left kidney, then an elbow to the back of his head. The world began to swim in front of him as he fell to the ground, completely gone to the world of unconsciousness as he hit the ground.

Sasuke smirked as he watched Naruto's body hit the ground. He walked over and plucked the bell from Naruto's hip pocket. He looked directly at Sakura, giving her the most intimidating look he could muster.

Sakura shuddered at the small amount of killing intent that Sasuke released, and held her bell out towards Sasuke.

"A—anything for you Sasuke-kun," stuttered Sakura.

Sasuke took the bell from her outstretched shuddering hand.

* * *

The fight had only taken an hour, barely giving Kakashi any time to read his precious books. As Sasuke took Sakura's bell Kakashi fell from his perch in his tree and made his way to Naruto's prone form. He removed the shinobi weapons from the boy's body and bandaged up the injuries left behind. 

Once he was finished bandaging Naruto up he stood up and leaned against a tree.

"I will announce the results of the exam once Naruto awakens," stated Kakashi as he pulled out his book and continued to read.

Roughly thirty minutes had passed before Naruto began to awaken.

"Kami, what hit me?" groaned Naruto as he picked himself up off the ground.

"Hn, me dobe," snorted Sasuke.

"As I said once Naruto awoke I'd announce the results," said Kakashi getting the attention of everyone in the clearing.

Naruto stared at the ground waiting for Kakashi to announce Sasuke the victor. Sasuke stood looking at Kakashi, a superior smirk displayed on his face. Sakura just looked at Sasuke and felt a small bit of pride at having helped him advance in his ninja career.

"Sasuke you…" Kakashi paused for dramatic effect. "Fail."

Everyone looked at Kakashi in surprise.

"You didn't understand the point of this exam. But don't worry I won't send all of you back to the academy."

Team 7 visibly calmed at Kakashi's reassurance.

"I'm going to request that you all never be allowed to become ninja."

The surprised looks returned to Team 7's faces. Could they have done so badly that their sensei didn't see it fit for them to ever become ninja?

"Wait," replied Sasuke in the calmest voice he could muster. "You said that we would have to continue the exam until either on of us had three bells or the alarm went off."

"Your point?" lazily asked Kakashi.

Sasuke threw Naruto a bell.

"I don't see anyone with three bells."

Kakashi glared at Sasuke's arrogant smirk. "You have one hour to figure out the purpose of this exam. You think you can do that?"

"Of course," replied Sasuke. "Plus, I'd like a rematch with Naruto. Without any distractions."

Naruto perked up at Sasuke's off-hand comment.

"Oh really? Are you prepared to lose then?" asked Naruto.

"As if, you're the one who's gonna lose."

Kakashi leapt back into the canopy, while Sakura simply back into the tree line. Naruto and Sasuke stood in the middle of the clearing waiting for the other to make the first move.

Sasuke's hands began to flash through seals as he prepared his favorite move, while Naruto responded by preparing his own.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" shouted Sasuke as he finished his hand seals.

A huge fireball scorched the land were Naruto stood, incinerating everything in its path.

Sasuke felt a fist ram itself into his kidney; interrupting the air he was exhaling to fuel his jutsu. He felt a blow to the back of his head, causing the world to spin in front of him as he fell to the ground. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

"Arrogance will only cause you to lose sight of what's right in front of you," said Naruto as he looked at Sasuke's fallen body.

Naruto leaned over and picked up one of Sasuke's bell, and tossed it towards Sakura.

"If we're gonna fail, we'll at least fail as equals," stated Naruto with a slight smirk on his face.

Sakura just stared at the bell, which Naruto had given to her.

"_Was I wrong about him? He beat Sasuke-kun, though that was probably a fluke. But even if it was, he's still nice to me,"_ thought Sakura.

Kakashi stared at Naruto's smirking form as he was seated in his tree.

"_Was I wrong about this one?"_

* * *

Sasuke took an hour to regain consciousness. Unlike Naruto, he just grunted as he picked himself up. 

Kakashi dropped from his perch for the second time that day and walked over to the group.

"You all pass," stated Kakashi.

For the third time that day, Kakashi's response was met with three surprised looks.

"But what did we do different this time?" questioned Sakura.

"You gave each other the bells. You looked out for your teammates. Sakura gave her bell to Sasuke, Sasuke gave one of his to Naruto, and Naruto gave one of his to Sakura."

"But Kakashi sensei you said we had to get three bells to pass?" asked Sakura

"That was the point. The test is rigged so that people fight amongst themselves. The test pits you against one another and makes it much harder to realize the key to this exam is self-sacrifice and team work. Didn't you guys ever wonder why they placed you in three man cells? It wasn't just to provide two people whose only purpose was to test the strongest candidate. It was so you can watch each other's backs when on a dangerous mission. Someone that you can form such strong bonds, so that you can trust them no matter what the situation. If you're going to remember anything that I tell you, remember this: Those who break the rules are trash. But those who don't look out for their comrades are worse then trash."

All three members of the newly formed Team 7 stared at the ground in silence, as they took in all that was just told to them.

"As stated earlier, you guys pass. We'll meet in two days to start missions," stated Kakashi before he got up and left.

The prospect of doing missions lifted the oppressiveness that permeated the air allowing Team 7 to return to a somewhat happy state of mind. Well two of the current members of Team 7 returned to a happy state of mind. The other's grew darker.

"_How could I have been beaten by the dead last? I must find out how he got his power."_

* * *

Team 7 gathered on the bridge that Kakashi had told them of the previous day. Now they just had to wait the hour that it'd take for Kakashi to actually arrive. Naruto was already used to this waiting, and Sasuke was less bothered by it, but it seemed Sakura would never forgive their sensei for being late. 

"Yo," said the hour late Kakashi.

"So, what's our first ever mission?" asked Naruto interrupting Sakura before she could say anything.

"Well, I haven't picked one up yet. So let's get going to the Hokage's tower to pick one up."

Naruto sighed, Sasuke grunted, and Sakura huffed before they followed Kakashi to the Hokage's tower

When Team 7 arrived at the Hokage's tower, they quickly made their way to where missions were assigned. Iruka was seated behind a desk, a cabinet behind him.

"Ah, Team 7. I presume you are here for your first mission," stated Iruka.

"You got it," replied Kakashi.

Iruka stood from his seat, and began to rummage through the cabinet before he found what he was looking for. He sat back down with a scroll in his hands.

"Well as I said before you have no mission record, and are a new team, meaning you will get a D-Rank mission," said Iruka as he looked over the scroll. "Actually, I see a note left here by the Hokage to speak specifically to the Genin of Team 7 about a special mission. I'm sure if you go up now he'll see you."

"Awesome," replied Naruto.

"Well, I guess I'll meet you guys later, since this will likely be only for you three. Meet at the same place tomorrow," said Kakashi, as he made his way to the exit.

"Goodbye sensei," said Naruto and Sakura, while Sasuke just watched him as he left.

Team 7 made their way up to the Hokage's office, after Kakashi had left. After knocking on the door and being beckoned in the came to face the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure.

"Ah Team 7, I was awaiting your arrival. As I'm sure you've been told I have a special mission for you," said the Sandaime.

Team 7 stood at attention hanging on the Sandaime's every word.

"Your mission will be to find out what your sensei hides under his hitai-ate."

Team 7 stood completely still seeming to have accepted and understood the mission objectives. Until Naruto's face lit up in surprise and anger.

"What! What kind of special mission is that!" practically shouted Naruto.

Similar expressions were appearing on the rest of Team 7 after Naruto's outburst.

"This is a special mission Naruto. It will measure your problem solving capabilities. And if completed may help you to better understand your sensei."

Naruto met the Sandaime's response with a cold hard glare, but didn't say anything. The rest of Team 7 had similar looks on their faces.

"Do you accept this mission?" asked the Hokage.

"If we have to," responded Naruto.

"Good. Well, since you already have the mission objective, you have an hour to use any means necessary to achieve this mission."

The three quickly left from the Hokage's office. Once outside the tomorrow they separated and ran in three different directions. Sakura to the library, Sasuke and Naruto to go find other Jounin.

* * *

Sakura arrived at the library and was kindly greeted by the aging librarian. After all, she was a frequent visitor, and knew her personally. 

"Do you have information on Konoha shinobi?" asked Sakura.

"We don't have much, since that information is limited to the public, but we still have some. It's in the very back, and you'll need this key to open the room," said the librarian as she handed Sakura the key.

"Thank you," replied Sakura.

Sakura made her way to the back of the library, and found a locked room in the back corner. Obviously this room was frequented often. The actual ninja of the village probably had their own library, located most likely in the Hokage's tower. But as an upstart Genin, access to that library was most likely restricted.

Inside the room was an average sized table, with a shelf of books and scrolls along the back wall.

"Hmm… Now where should I start," pondered Sakura.

* * *

Sasuke knew that his fame as the last Uchiha could open quite a few doors. Sasuke looked around the Hokage's office for another Jounin ninja. It took him ten to twenty minutes before he could find another Konoha Jounin. 

The Konoha Jounin had a green spandex and orange leg warmers. Although extremely weird, he was the first Jounin Sasuke had found.

"Hey do you know what's under Hatake Kakashi's hitai-ate?" asked Sasuke.

"Hatake Kakashi?! You must be my eternal rival's student! I will defeat him yet and break the tie of 99:99!" shouted the strange man in green.

"_This is gonna take awhile…,"_ thought Sasuke.

* * *

Naruto quickly looked through the Hokage tower, and upon finding one began to question him about his sensei. 

"Excuse me, can you tell me something about Hatake Kaka…," began Naruto.

"No," said the Jounin calmly before walking away.

Naruto just watched as the man walked away, a small vein of blood becoming visibile in his brow.

"Well that didn't work. I guess I'll try the library, they should have something on the guy."

Naruto left the Hokage tower, and took to the roof tops to regain lost time. Upon arrival Naruto made his way to the front desk.

"Excuse me, do you have information on Konoha ninja?" asked Naruto.

"Yes we do," replied the librarian.

Naruto looked expectantly at the librarian, and after a few seconds continued.

"Well could you tell me where it is?"

"Oh, I'm sorry someone is already using those facilities."

Naruto cradled his head in his hands as the librarian refused to help him.

"Well could you direct me to those facilities to ask if I may join them?" asked a peeved Naruto.

"I'm sorry, but I'd hate to bother that person, so I'll have to decline."

"So what your trying to say is you won't help me, right?"

The librarian just smirked at Naruto as he barely contained his frustration.

"Fine," stated Naruto as he turned and made his way out of the library, the librarian just snidely smirking at his departing form.

As Naruto stood on the streets he considered the options left to him to complete the mission.

"_Well asking people is out; the chance that I'll find someone to actually help me is slim. All I got at the library was snide denial to part with information. So that leaves me with direct confrontation. Uhh… This is gonna hurt."_

* * *

Kakashi was making his way down the street, face planted in his orange book. It was rare to see Kakashi without the book, so he didn't draw much attention as he walked. It had been thirty minutes since he had left his team at the Hokage's tower, and he was enjoying his day off. That is, until he felt the presence hiding on a roof. 

"_Well, for a ninja his stealth is terrible, but I can't let him know that I know,"_ thought Kakashi as he continued his way down the street.

In fact he didn't display any reaction to the stalker until he heard the specific sound of flying objects head directly at him. As he jumped out of the way he noticed two shuriken implant themselves in the hardened dirt ground.

"Nice dodge sensei. I'd expect no less from a Jounin," shouted Naruto from his rooftop position.

"Is there a reason you're attacking me Naruto? Or are you just doing it for fun," asked Kakashi.

"Oh, there's a reason Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi watched as Naruto leapt from the roof and landed on the ground in front of him.

"Let me guess… You're not going to tell me?"

"You got that right sensei," replied Naruto with a smirk.

Naruto charged at Kakashi, cocking back his fist, and letting it fly towards Kakashi's face as he came in range. Kakashi deftly caught Naruto's fist with one hand, while holding his book with the other.

"Now, now Naruto, a direct assault will get you nowhere with me. You should know that," stated Kakashi.

"Oh, but I do sensei."

Kakashi sensed multiple projectiles headed towards him, and quickly replaced himself with what he thought was Naruto. He was confused when the jutsu didn't work, and suddenly realized that he couldn't grasp Naruto's fist because his hand passed right through it. Kakashi jumped to the side narrowly dodging the many shuriken that were now stuck in the ground where he had been just a few moments ago.

"Very nice Naruto, using Buunshin and Kawarimi to confuse me. It almost worked, though you'll have to try a little harder."

Kakashi turned around as he felt Naruto's presence charging his position. He watched as just before Naruto came into punching distance he planted his feet into the ground and hurled himself with his excess momentum into a corkscrewing front flip. As he was moving over Kakashi's head, he extended his arm and made a grab for his hitai-ate. Kakashi could only watch in surprise as Naruto traveled over his head, but at the last second as Naruto had begun to get a grip on his headband he knocked his arm away and jumped backwards to get out of Naruto's range.

Naruto landed, knees bent, so as not to injure his legs. Naruto could suddenly hear the sound of clapping coming from behind him.

"Bravo Naruto. You almost had me there," said Kakashi.

"Damn," swore Naruto.

"Let me guess, the Hokage's mission was to find out what was under my head band?" asked Kakashi.

Naruto looked to his sensei and nodded in affirmation.

"You know there are easier means to find out. You could have asked someone."

"Tried, but they wouldn't grace me with a response."

"Researched public records for basic knowledge of my history."

"I was refused access to the files by the librarian."

"Or just ask me if you could see under it," empathetically said Kakashi.

"Like you would actually allow someone to see under any of your hidden face," grumpily said Naruto.

"Well did you at least try? If you don't try, then you'll never know for sure."

"Fine. Kakashi-sensei, may I see what is hidden under your hitai-ate?" asked Naruto.

After a few moments, and not receiving a response, Naruto turned to his sensei and saw his head band pulled up. The iris of Kakashi's left eye was blood red and had three tomoe evenly spaced surrounding his pupil.

Naruto gave his sensei a rare smile.

"Thank you sensei."

"Like I said Naruto, you won't know unless you try. Remember that and apply it to everything," said Kakashi, his eyes crinkled in what Naruto could only assume was his version of a smile. "Now get going, I'm sure you're due back to the Hokage tower by now."

Naruto jumped onto the closest building, and thanked Kakashi again before heading to the Hokage tower.

* * *

Team 7 stood in front of the Sandaime Hokage for the second time that day. However, this time they were more relaxed. 

"So, how did the mission go for you all?" asked the Hokage.

"I found out that Kakashi's left eye is freaky. It's red and has three tomoe in it," stated Naruto.

"I found out that Kakashi's left eye is part of a bloodline that was given to him," answered Sakura.

"Kakashi has an implanted Sharingan eye," finished Sasuke.

The Hokage listened as each member gave their account, and smiled when each gave an accurate description.

"You are all correct, but I'd like to know the methods you used to acquire this knowledge," said the Hokage.

Sakura was the first to respond to the Hokage's question. "I went to the library and researched past records on Konoha ninjas."

"I asked a Konoha Jounin, by the name of Maito Gai," said Sasuke.

"Kakashi showed me what was under it," finished Naruto.

Everyone looked to Naruto in some degree of surprise. Sasuke was peeved that he had to deal with Gai's ranting when he could have just asked Kakashi, while Sakura was frustrated that she had to waste time researching. The Hokage's surprise was more for the fact that Kakashi had shown anyone what was under the hitai-ate who didn't already know of its existence.

"I'm pleased with your methods and results, so I deem this mission a success. You can all pick up your payments from Iruka before you leave. Good job guys," stated the Hokage.

Team 7 left the Hokage's office and left the tower after picking up their payment. Kakashi had said to meet him tomorrow morning, so that left the rest of the day free to do as they pleased.

Sasuke turned to Naruto as they were walking down the street.

"Naruto, why didn't you show how strong you were in the academy?"

Naruto remained silent as they walked, seeming to have not heard Sasuke's question. Sasuke was growing more peeved as Naruto's silence continued, but was dispelled as Naruto answered.

"Someone once told me it was better to be strong and unknown, then to be strong and the center of attention."

Sasuke took a few seconds to ponder over Naruto's answer before his next question.

"How did you get so strong?"

Again Naruto remained silent, but Sasuke knew now that he was thinking. Something he didn't think Naruto to be originally capable of, but was recently shown otherwise.

"I don't remember how I started, but what I do know is that it was a lot of work. Constant training and dedication brought me too where I am today. I wish I could tell you more, but there's a gap in my memory."

Sasuke seemed to accept the answer for now. When the three came to a fork in the road, Sasuke and Sakura took one path, while Naruto followed the other. Sakura lived in an average house, while Sasuke lived in his empty clan district. Naruto on the other hand, lived in a single bedroom apartment in a much poorer and run down part of Konoha.

It wasn't that Naruto couldn't afford a better apartment, but if he wanted the luxuries of better food and other necessities he'd have to put up with a lower class neighborhood and apartment.

Once Naruto had entered his apartment, he gathered up all the items he would need for training and left for the training grounds.

* * *

After Naruto had split up with Sasuke and Sakura, the two continued to walk towards their respective houses. Sakura had asked for a date, but was denied as usual. The two soon came to another fork where they split up once again. Once Sakura had left, Sasuke cut back and followed Naruto via rooftops. 

"_Naruto couldn't possibly live in this area,"_ thought Sasuke as he followed Naruto into the more run down district of Konoha.

However, Sasuke was proven wrong as Naruto removed a key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock of a rundown apartment. He kept watching the door waiting to see if Naruto would come back out, and was rewarded a few minutes later as Naruto exited and locked his apartment.

Sasuke followed Naruto as close as he could without alerting him to his presence. He was surprised to see Naruto make his way to the training grounds, but then thought about what Naruto had said earlier about constant hard work.

He watched as Naruto preformed warming up exercises, consisting of push ups, sit ups, and light jogging. Afterwards he sat in the middle of the clearing and began meditating.

After Naruto had finished his warm-ups he moved onto meditation. He slowed his breathing as he sat in the clearing, and relaxed all the muscles in his body. He then focused on his breathing to center himself. When all of this was done, and he had finally entered a true meditative state, he found himself in front of his sensei's cage.

"What shall it be today sensei?" question Naruto.

"As a reward for doing so well against Kakashi you shall do the normal exercises, but you can perform them on land."

"Thank you, sensei."

Naruto gave a slight bow before leaving his mindscape, and entering a normal meditative state. As he gathered his Chakra inwards he noticed a presence lingering at the edge of the forest.

"You can come out now," said Naruto without leaving his trance.

Naruto opened his eyes to see Sasuke walking towards his seated form.

"So, do you normally follow people without alerting them to your presence," asked Naruto.

Sasuke remained silent as he looked at Naruto's seated form.

"If you have nothing to say, then could you leave me be? I have nothing against you, but being watched makes me somewhat self-conscious."

As Naruto was entering back into his trance he was stopped as he heard the sound of wood being struck repeatedly. Naruto opened his eyes and watched as Sasuke was practicing his Taijutsu against a tree trunk. Sasuke stopped as he felt Naruto's gaze on his back.

"If you have nothing to say, then could you leave me be? I have nothing against you, but being watched makes me somewhat self-conscious," said Sasuke.

Naruto smirked as Sasuke threw Naruto's comment back at him, and Sasuke returned the smirk.

The two returned to their training only moments later.

* * *

Naruto threw down his backpack of weights when he got home. He laid down on his bed preparing to take a much wanted nap. His arms burned from heavy lifting, or as heavy of lifting as he could manage, and his legs cramped from running. Most of all, his back felt like it was on fire from not only carrying weights there and back, but from continued strenuous labor. Being the largest muscle in your body, it's hard to avoid using it in one way or another. 

His apartment was a slum, worn clothes on the floor, unwashed, clean clothes on the floor, unworn, and clothes that Naruto didn't remember how to categorize. It was in a serious need of a paint job, with chips and flecks of it coming off in places. Worst of all, it had a distinct scent of body odor to it, that was normally attached to clothes of the first category. Sure, Naruto kept himself clean, but taking care of a home took a lot of time. For that reason, he spent only about eight hours a day there, all of them sleeping.

So the boy was not surprised when he saw an unopened letter lingering in front of his alarm clock. He pushed aside the reading novel that was on top of it, and held it in front of him. How could he not have ever noticed this?

Several solutions came to mind. One, he hadn't bothered on cleaning his room in so many weeks that it had been recently unveiled today, one way or another. Two, Naruto only checked his mail once or twice a month and this was merely a remnant, probably miscatagorized as a bill, advertisement, or other form of junk mail. Three, the most likely choice, is he had mistaken it for a book mark and used it for the aforementioned reading novel, which he had just finished the night earlier.

Naruto surveyed the letter finding no stamps or addresses on it, meaning it hadn't gone through the mail. It also didn't have a sender or recipient assigned on it. Was the mail for someone else that Naruto had callously kept for himself for use as a book mark?

Unlikely. The words "open after graduation" were clearly depicted on the front end of the white rectangle. Now, unless Konoha had a college hidden somewhere in the leaves, it was referring to the academy. The blonde doubted any other ninja lived in this apartment complex. For one, those who lived in the building seemed much older, and there was an age limit for becoming a Genin. No kids his age living around here. For another, no adult would be receiving a letter like this, since it was, in Naruto's best evaluation, for a child his age who had recently graduated from the academy.

So by these methods, Naruto decided that this letter was for himself, was mistakenly used as a book mark for a week or two, was not a bill, advertisement, or other sort of junk mail, and was designated for him to open once he graduated the academy.

Lastly, the letter was old, broken around the edges, and bearing a coffee stain. Naruto didn't even drink coffee.

Naruto put the letter aside and peeled his sweaty white tee shirt off. That's about all the clothes Naruto owned. White tee shirts for training, and his black shirt bearing the orange spiral for everything else. There was, after all, a large difference in price between the two outfits. He preferred to use the tees for menial tasks while reserving the black shirt and pants for when he wanted to look as nice as a poor ninja boy could look.

He stood and made his way to the bathroom, letter in hand now. He walked around clothes as he did so, not wanting to step on clean clothes, which could be anywhere really. Laundry was a luxury for him. It also took a while, at the Laundromat; about a day's of training. He also sighed when he stepped over black shirt. Truth be told, Naruto didn't like the color black. It was dark, boring, and just seemed to be unskilled. Colors like blue, red, and green were much more experienced. Why hadn't black picked up any tips along the way? Though, Naruto believed that orange was the most skilled color there was. It was also his favorite. He would wear a full orange outfit everyday, if nature would be kind enough to make all the grass, trees, and shrubs that color. Sadly they were not, and orange was a poor color for blending in. That was something that black did a bit better then blue, red, green, or orange. It was a stealth color.

But that didn't stop Naruto from attaching his favorite shade somewhere. A small spiral was enough to make him happy with his clothes.

Naruto stopped in front of the mirror of his bathroom and opened the letter, bluntly opening it with his finger. The content was a single piece of paper. It seemed blank.

The key word being seemed in that phrase. There was a single word written on it.

_Licentia_

That was it. One word on the page. Was this a joke? Naruto tossed the paper in the trash and sighed, then looked in the mirror at his face.

The boy looked into his own eyes, as anyone would. There was something wrong.

They were as red as sin, and outlined in black dots. He recoiled at the glass mirror, suddenly in shock. It was only a moment after that he realized that the reflection was not his own, but belonged to another face, one that he knew from the bottom of his heart, but for the life of him could not speak.

"Sasuke?" He mouthed. Though it was not, this face was much harsher. These eyes were not the stealthy black, but the skillful red.

Naruto couldn't take his eyes off of those eyes, even as they span, and he collapsed. This was from no strain of the body, but of the mind. Memories began rushing to Naruto, forgotten memories, or rather, ones that were sealed away.

* * *

Cold sweat ran off of Naruto's face as he sat hunched in a ball on the floor of his bathroom. He wasn't sure how to register what had happened to him. 

Was it fear? Wouldn't most people be afraid of finding out that they had many memories that were lost to them, and suddenly getting them all back in one rush? Or maybe it was anger, at actually having not known in the first place. What about betrayal? His sensei, the one that was always with him had said nothing about this, though surely it wasn't limited the same way Naruto was.

But no matter what emotion that was being felt, it didn't take away any of the facts. Naruto worked hard to organize them in his own mind.

His trainer was a man named Uchiha Itachi. And Naruto vaguely remembered this. He knew that as a young child, someone had tutored him to read and write, as well as take care of his health. What was new was that Naruto now had a face and name to place to that person, something he didn't have before.

And what was more important was that Uchiha Itachi hadn't only shown Naruto those basic skills, he had trained him as a ninja. Naruto now had memories of being taught concepts of Chakra and Stamina, as well as simple training methods. In those early years, Naruto had learned the contents of the entire ninja academy, with the addition of tree walking as it seemed.

He remembered stealth and recon games disguised as hide and seek, hunting down a target as tag, and chores for exercise. Along with spontaneous questions that tested his observation skills.

The most important details lay in a book that Naruto had read however. It was called _Licentia_. Actually, Naruto had read that book over twenty times. He only thought he read it once every time. It was Itachi's favorite training method…and probably a way of imparting important knowledge onto Naruto for use in the future.

Ever time Naruto had read it Itachi hypnotized him into forgetting it. He did this until Naruto realized that it was no noble story, but a tragedy.

The book detailed how the Yondaime defeated the tailed beast, only identified by the number of tails that it had. It also gave details about the Yondaime Hokage himself, a man named Kazama Arashi. After his triumph in the Third Secret World War, he was elected Hokage, a position he technically held for a year, but was only in Konohagakure for six months. The rest of the time he was on a mission vital to the safety of the village. He only returned after the Kyuubi was on the verge of Konoha's walls. It was there that he defeated the beast at the cost of his own life.

But what history didn't tell of was the Hokage's forbidden techniques. His combination of A- and S-Rank jutsu ripped the beast to shreds, but it would always recover, the invincible creature it was. Finally Kazama began to use other sorts of techniques against it, inhuman techniques that required blood sacrifice of his own ninja. The shinobi blindly martyred themselves in vain against the Kyuubi's unstoppable might. Finally, Arashi sacrificed the only one left: himself.

These truths were what Naruto remembered. And these truths were what he had to accept because they were the reason for his existence.

* * *

The next day Team 7 met on the bridge that was becoming their average meeting area. None of them were expecting Kakashi for another hour, so they had time to converse with one another. 

"So Sasuke, you up for training together again?" asked Naruto.

"Hn, why not," said Sasuke.

Sakura watched in amazement as two who had seemed to severely dislike each other made plans that involved the other. She was even more surprised when Naruto began speaking to her.

"You're invited to Sakura. That is, if your actually willing to train," said Naruto.

Mentally, Sakura jumped for joy at the prospect of seeing Sasuke even more. However she wouldn't be able to watch her love as he trained, Naruto had seen to that.

"…Fine, I'll train," replied Sakura.

When Kakashi arrived, Team 7 headed to the Hokage's tower and got their D-Rank mission for the day. That day it was going to be finding the wife of the Daimyo's cat, again. The group received their pay after the few hours they spent to finish the mission. The three met once it was over at the bridge to discuss where they would train.

"Let's head to the one we were at yesterday. If it's not open we'll go from there," said Naruto.

Team 7 made their way to the training ground that Sasuke and Naruto had used the previous day. The clearing was empty so the three started their practice.

Sakura watched as Sasuke walked to one side and began kunai and shuriken target practice, while Naruto began his usual warm-up routines. Not knowing what to work on, she sat underneath a tree and began to think about her Sasuke-kun.

"Sakura, what did I tell you about training with us?" asked Naruto, causing Sakura to jump as she was broken out of her daze.

"I'm not sure what I should train," replied Sakura.

Naruto mewled over some possibilities, while Sakura just watched expectantly.

"Well since this isn't a heavy training session you can work on your target practice or familiarize yourself further with the jutsu you know," said Naruto, before continuing with his warm-ups.

Sakura thought it over, and decided to practice her kunai skills.

After an hour of training Team 7 gathered in the middle of the clearing.

"Alright, how about we meet here after our missions?" suggested Naruto.

"That's fine with me," said Sasuke.

"Same here," reiterated Sakura.

Team 7 left the training grounds and headed towards their respective houses.

* * *

Team 7 had been having their training sessions for a week, after every mission. They had no problem with the training sessions. In fact they began to look forward to them. Sasuke become more sociable, while Sakura began to gain the proper attitude towards being a ninja. They each had a long way to go, but the first and hardest step had already been taken. 

The real problem Team 7 had was the D-Rank missions. They weren't ungrateful for the money they were earning, but they didn't feel challenged. They would never know how well they had improved since the academy unless they got something a little more difficult. So they decided as a whole to bring it up with the Hokage in the most polite, placating manner the next time they went for a mission.

"I'm sick of these fucking D-Rank missions gramps! Give us something harder," shouted Naruto.

Though neither Sakura nor Sasuke exactly agreed with Naruto's manner of posing the question, they agreed that they needed to test their abilities.

"Watch your language around the Hokage! I shouldn't give you any missions for a month with that type of attitude!" shouted Iruka.

"Oh wow, like that's so much better then the shitty D-Rank missions you have us doing now," Naruto shouted back.

"What did I just tell you about watching your language!"

Naruto and Iruka's glares at one another were so intense they become almost visible. However, the tense atmosphere was shattered by the Hokage's sudden guffaw.

"So you think you're ready for something more challenging Naruto?" asked the Hokage.

"Do I," said Naruto, with a smug smile adorning his face.

"Well then, I think I have a C-Rank mission with your name on it," replied the Hokage.

"B—but Hokage-sama?" stuttered Iruka.

"Now, now Iruka, I believe they deserve the chance to prove themselves. And besides, it's not like we're giving them an A-Rank mission or anything."

"Is that alright with you, Kakashi-san?" asked the Hokage.

All occupants of the room turned towards the masked man, awaiting his reply.

"Why not."

Sasuke and Sakura's mood greatly improved, while Naruto let out a loud, joyful shout.

"The mission is to protect a certain person," started the Hokage.

"What kind of person," Naruto rudely interjected.

"I was about to call them in, if you would've let me finish. You can enter now Tazuna-san."

The door opened and in walked a man that held a bottle of Sake and looked quite inebriated.

"These are the ninja I'm getting? They're just a bunch of brats," drunkenly exclaimed Tazuna.

"What'd he say?!" shouted Naruto, while the others silently agreed.

"Don't worry Tazuna-san, I can assure you that these three are skilled enough for the task you requested. Plus they also have a Jounin sensei for any tough situations."

"Whatever just meet me at the gate," said Tazuna, stumbling as he exited the room.

Once Tazuna was gone, Kakashi turned towards his Genin.

"Get all the equipment you think necessary for this trip. Remember it will probably last for almost a month, so pack wisely," stated Kakashi.

Team 7 exited the Hokage tower and went their respective ways.

A/N: As you can see there are a few changes. The next chapter, if it includes everything I'm hoping for, will be where the story largely diverges. Key points of the manga/anime will still be in this story (e.g. Chuunin exams). I've already started the third chapter, but I'm going to be leaving the country for ten days. When I return, and if I have a computer handy, I will continue with the chapter in fear of a bitchy beta. Thank you for reading this chapter, and I hope you stick with this story. R&R


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Another chapter completed. I'm sorry this took me so long, but I didn't get much time in July to write. For those of you who were not enjoying the extreem canoness of the story, this is the chapter for you.

An hour later Naruto arrived at the designated gate to find that he was the last one to arrive.

"Naruto, what took you so long?!" haughtily asked Sakura.

"I was making sure that I had everything I needed. Sorry for keeping you guys up, we can leave now," replied Naruto.

The Genin of Team 7 took in their surroundings as they all passed through the gates of Konoha. Naruto with his rapid head movements, Sakura and her quiet astonishment, and Sasuke with subtle calculating glances.

"Alright that's enough gaping," stated Kakashi.

The Genin snapped to attention and returned to their established traveling formation.

"Now, I know that there isn't much chance for enemy attack on this mission, but it is better to be prepared then caught unawares," Kakashi noted. "Keep your eyes and ears open, and alert your teammates of possible danger."

The group continued on, more cautious, and went unmolested for the first two days.

"Man, this is boring," droned Naruto.

"Be glad it's not interesting," replied Kakashi. "Interesting is dangerous, boring is safe."

The group continued walking for most of the morning. The weather had held steady and clear for the past few weeks, and that day was no different.

No one took notice as the group walked past a rather large puddle to the side of the trail. Or how two figures silently arose from the water, until they were already upon them and had wrapped Kakashi in a serrated chain. The group could only watch in morbid fascination as the chain tore Kakashi's body in two.

Their bodies were cloaked and the chain that had ripped Kakashi in two was connected to their arms on each end. The assailants did not hesitate after finishing Kakashi and proceeded onto Tazuna.

However, a kunai flew through the air and pinned a ring of the chain to a tree, thus immobilizing the assailants.

Naruto was quick to press the advantage his teammate had provided for him. He unsheathed a kunai and made to slice at the leftmost figure. His progress was halted by the clawed hand of the assailant as it detached its gauntlet from the chain.

Naruto felt waves of pain rush through his arm, but ignored it and brought his knee up into the assailant's groin. His effort was rewarded with a swift intake of air and a loud groan as the assailant's body toppled to the ground.

The other was dispatched with a swift chop to the neck by a fully-alive Kakashi.

"Like I said Naruto, interesting is dangerous," stated Kakashi. "Look at you, your bleeding and those claws were probably poisoned. We're going to have to bleed the poison out."

Everyone stared as Naruto impaled a kunai into his hand, expelling a wave of black tinted blood.

"Don't let me hold up the mission," exclaimed Naruto through clenched teeth.

"What the hell are you doing," shouted Sakura.

"As Kakashi said, bleeding out the poison," replied Naruto.

"Yeah, but shoving a kunai into your hand is reckless. You could severe nerves that allow you to use parts of your hand."

Naruto flexed his hand, which forced more blood to flow down his arm.

"Seems good to me," said Naruto, as he wrapped his wounded hand with a strip of cloth.

"We're getting off track," interjected Kakashi before Sakura could reply. "Those were Chuunin level ninja that just attacked. Is there anything you'd like to add Tazuna?"

Everyone stared at Tazuna awaiting his response.

"I had to do it. My village is to poor to afford anything above C-Rank missions. This bridge is the last hope for our survival," exclaimed Tazuna.

"So what are we to do?" asked Kakashi.

"I think we should help them," replied Naruto. "If we aren't going to help, then who is?"

Sakura and Sasuke nodded in agreement before looking towards Kakashi for orders.

"We were lucky that they were presumptuous and overconfident. The next one we fight will most likely be a Jounin. If that is the situation you must promise me that you will not try to fight. I can't guarantee your safety in such a situation. Do you all still want to do this?" asked Kakashi.

Each Genin member of Team 7 nodded in response.

"Then we will continue to guard you Tazuna."

"Thank you," replied Tazuna.

* * *

The rest of the trip took four days. On the fourth day they reached a river covered in mist. On the shore awaited a boat along with an oarsman.

The trip across the river was slow and required everyone to remain silent. The oars of the boat were wrapped in cloth so as to make little noise.

"My house is not much further," said Tazuna as they got off the boat.

As the group came to a clearing with a pond, Kakashi had the feeling that they were not alone anymore.

Though this meant little to Naruto, who was too busy thinking. It probably wasn't the time or place, he was thinking over lessons from his sensei, as well as the hard truth of what the Yondaime Hokage did to seal this being into him.

So it was a large surprise when Sasuke suddenly kicked Naruto's knees out from under him, and then pushed him to the ground.

Kakashi helped push down Sakura and Tazuna as the large blade flew over. From their position, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto would probably have been sliced down the hips, and Tazuna and Kakashi the thighs.

Naruto made no complaint as his face hit the dirt and Sasuke swore in his ear, seeing the blade run through three to four trees before finally imbedding itself in a thicker trunk. The man who body flickered onto the sword was muscular and lacking any hair below the scalp. His eyes were cold, but Naruto's gaze was locked on his forehead protector. It was a black cloth with a different marking on the plate, one that signified him from another village.

Team 7's Jounin stood and brushed some dirt off of his arm. The rest of the team followed suit, but no one had half the look of confidence that he did.

"So, Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja. I was annoyed that the Demon Brothers were defeated so easily, but now that I see it was by your hand, it makes more sense." The man's voice was hoarse, and intimidating, something that the accused Copy Ninja didn't respond to.

"And I see that I'm paired against Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist." His one-eyed glare narrowed. "That explains why Mist shinobi were interfering."

"What do you mean, Kakashi?" Sasuke questioned with a whisper.

Kakashi just continued to speak out loud. "They're missing ninja, Nukenin. Even Kirigakure wouldn't disgrace themselves by sending ninja to meddle with another village's C-Rank mission."

Zabuza's face tightened.

"Nukenin?" Sakura started to reach to her pouch for a kunai.

"They are ninja who abandon their village, without having assigned missions. They keep up their career by taking whatever scrap even a village wouldn't touch."

Naruto smiled. "So they're out-of-practice reject push-overs!"

"Well, that would usually be the case, except for this particular missing ninja was formerly part of a cabal known as the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Ninja don't use swords. Mist however, makes use of weapons other then shuriken or kunai. The most exceptional are these Seven Swordsmen."

Naruto frowned. "So, he's used to be one of the best in his village?"

Kakashi nodded.

Naruto smiled again. "So he got kicked out and replaced. Sounds like a reject to me!"

"The Mist used to have a policy for graduating academy students. They would be paired up and required to kill their partners to become full fledged Genin. However, one year every student was murdered save one. That was Momochi Zabuza."

Naruto kept quiet as he heard the gruesome information.

"Well, it seems you know all about me, so now that that's out of the way. Are you going to hand Tazuna over to me, or am I going to have to kill you all."

"We will not hand Tazuna over, so it looks you have a fight on your hands," replied Kakashi as he lifted his hitai-ate.

"Pulling out the Sharingan from the start, I feel honored, but it won't help."

"Remember what I told you about this fight," said Kakashi to the rest of Team 7. "Guard Tazuna, don't let Zabuza get him."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura took up positions, kunai in hand, around Tazuna.

Zabuza stepped off his sword and simultaneously grabbed the hilt and wrenched it from the tree. He used the extra momentum to slash at Kakashi.

Kakashi pulled a kunai from his pouch just in time to block the six-foot blade hurtling towards him.

"Nice save, but you won't be able to keep it up much longer with such a puny weapon," proclaimed Zabuza.

Zabuza body flickered away and planted his sword in the ground, before he begun a series of hand seals. A wave of dense mist swept through the area rendering sight useless.

"The odds have now swung in my favor," said Zabuza's voice from all directions.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's going on?" asked Sakura.

"Momochi Zabuza is a master of silent killing. Now is the time to truly be on guard."

It was at that moment that a wave of killing intent as large and overwhelming as the mist hit the Genin of Team 7.

"Liver, lungs, spince, clavical vein, jugular vein, brain, kidney, heart. Which one should I go after?"

The three increased their grip on their kunai as their hands trembled.

Kakashi's arm shot out and the loud sound of metal colliding with metal was heard.

"Even with the mist blocking your Sharingan your still a capable ninja. This should be fun," said Zabuza.

Kakashi reinforced his arm muscles and quickly brought another kunai from his back pouch and disemboweled Zabuza's hulking form.

Water poured from the wound Kakashi had inflicted before Zabuza's entire body burst into water.

"Shit, mizu-buunshin," exclaimed Kakashi before he felt cold steel slashing through his neck.

Zabuza watched as what he thought was the body of Hatake Kakashi exploded into a cloud of air.

"Seems I'm not the only fan of buunshin. I guess I'll finish this in one blow," said Zabuza.

Zabuza leapt to the middle of the lake as the mist began to clear. Kakashi responded to Zabuza's actions by following them flawlessly. As each stood on the lake they began the same sequences of hand seals.

"Suiton: (blank) no Jutsu."

"Suiton: (blank) no Jutsu."

Two dragons made entirely of water rose from the water and began circling one another before collapsing in on themselves.

The two began an even longer, more complicated series of hand seals.

"How are you—"

"—Doing that?" finished Kakashi.

"It's as if he's—"

"—Reading my mind?" finished Kakashi once again.

Zabuza stopped his hand seals in shock as believed he saw Kakashi become an exact replica of him. Kakashi used the advantage and finished his hand seals.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu."

A gigantic wave rose in front of Kakashi and slammed into the stunned body of Zabuza.

When the water settled Zabuza remained standing, but his body was hunched and he was almost out of Chakra.

"How is that possi— "

Zabuza's statement was halted as two senbons implanted themselves in Zabuza's neck.

Kakashi pulled Zabuza's body from the water and laid it on the shore. A cloaked man body flickered next to the body. He wore a white mask with the same symbol of Kirigakure.

"Thank you for weakening him. Now I can return to my village and report the success of my mission," explained the cloaked figure.

Naruto was in shock. Kakashi had struggled to defeat this enemy, yet this mere _boy_ managed to kill him? And not only was Zabuza killed, but he never even saw the face of his murderer. It happened so fast…and he didn't even have a chance to fight back.

"How!" Naruto yelled. "How can you kill him and just walk away like that! You're…you're just a kid like me!"

Kakashi put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Look…there are people in this world who are younger then you…yet stronger then me. You can't judge him by his appearance. Though I do have to ask, why are you bringing back the whole body, when you only need to show them his head."

The man paused. "That would usually be the case, but Zabuza was once one of the Seven Swordsmen, which means even though he betrayed our village, it is custom he be buried with his predecessor." And with that, the figure picked up the body and body flickered out of the clearing.

Everyone rushed over to Kakashi as he dropped to a knee.

"What's wrong Kakashi?" asked Sakura.

"Don't worry it's just a simple case of Chakra exhaustion. I just used my Sharingan to much."

The rest of Team 7 carried Kakashi's unconscious body as Tazuna led them the rest of the way to his house.

* * *

Kakashi was placed in a bed as the group reached Tazuna's house. Everyone met back in the kitchen. After initial introductions, the group sat down to eat dinner.

"We can't exactly make any plans without Kakashi here," started Sakura.

"We'll most likely be assigning members to guard you whenever you go out, but as Sakura said we'll wait for Kakashi to awaken for further orders," continued Sasuke.

After dinner was finished everyone went to their respective rooms.

It took Kakashi a week to awaken. Each day two of the Genin of Team 7 accompanied Tazuna, and one stayed behind to watch the family. The week passed without incident.

"Uhh… How long was I out?" groaned Kakashi.

"You were out for a week," replied Naruto.

Kakashi sat up and after rubbing his eyes took in his surroundings.

"Where is everyone else?" asked Kakashi.

"Sakura and Sasuke are out guarding Tazuna, while I watch over the family. We've been trading off all week."

"Smart thinking, let me guess Sakura and Sasuke came up with it."

"Pff… I could've come up with it," replied Naruto.

"We'll talk about what are next plans are when they return tonight."

When Sasuke and Sakura returned that night, a large dinner was awaiting to celebrate Kakashi's awakening. The large dinner was however limited to a normal meal proportions due to the lack of food in the house, but it was the thought that counted.

"You guys came up with a good plan of keeping an eye on Tazuna, and I see no reason to change it now," stated Kakashi, once the food had been cleared from the table. "Tomorrow morning we will head to the forest nearby and do some training before I split you up into your groups for the day. Is that understood?"

The genin nodded in affirmation before heading up to bed.

* * *

The next morning found Team 7 in a forest near Tazuna's house.

"So what kind of training are we going to be doing today, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura.

"Today we are going to learn how to climb trees," replied Kakashi.

"But Kakashi, I can already climb trees. It's not that hard," claimed Naruto.

"Let me rephrase that statement. Today I am going to teach you how to climb trees without your hands."

Sakura and Sasuke stared at Kakashi as if he was uttering nonsense. Naruto pondered over whether or not he should show his already obtained ability to climb trees with chakra.

As each genin of Team 7 responded to Kakashi statement in their own way, Kakashi decided to forgo the explanation and demonstrate what they'd be learning.

Sasuke and Sakura stared in wonder as Kakashi walked up the trunk of the tree, then walked upside down on a large branch sprouting from the trunk.

"You are going to be learning how to do this," stated Kakashi from above. "To climb a tree using only your feet, you must provide a specific amount of chakra to your feet constantly. You will use trial and error to find this amount. Too little and your feet won't stick to the trunk. Too much and your feet will be repelled away from the trunk. I suggest you take a running start and use kunai to mark how far you get each time."

Each genin pulled a kunai from their pouches and ran at the trees in front of them. Sasuke made it three steps up the tree before his foot was repelled off the tree and he was sent falling to the ground. Sakura made it seven steps before her feet wouldn't grip the tree any more and she was also sent falling to the ground. Naruto ran all the way up the tree and perched himself on a branch near Kakashi's level.

Sasuke and Sakura stared at Naruto's sitting form high above them, and Kakashi stared from his upside-down position.

"How did you manage that Naruto?" questioned Kakashi.

Naruto paused for a few seconds to think up an answer. "I was taught by one of the Jounin in the village."

"Ah, that explains how you could do it on your first attempt."

Naruto was taken back by Kakashi's response. "Oh, so I couldn't have just done it on my own?"

"Well, technically it's possible. But, with the amount of chakra you possess, it is highly unlikely that you'd naturally have such a high control over it."

Naruto didn't like Kakashi's answer, but decided that it did make enough sense.

"That doesn't mean that you two don't have to keep trying. The first one to finish the exercise will head to Tazuna's house and keep an eye on Tsunami and Inari. The other should come find me and help guarding Tazuna. Understood?"

"Hai," responded Sakura and Sasuke.

"What about me?" asked Naruto.

"You will be guarding Tazuna with me."

Kakashi and Naruto took to the trees and headed to the bridge. Sasuke and Sakura continued working on the tree climbing exercise, helping one another to finish faster.

* * *

"Ah, there you are Kakashi," called Tazuna, as Kakashi and Naruto walked onto the unfinished bridge. "I was wondering where you were. And I see that Naruto is with you."

"I was just giving my team some exercises to practice," replied Kakashi.

Tazuna nodded in understanding before continuing. "Well I am going to keep doing my job, but feel free to interject if necessary."

One of the workers approached Tazuna and began whispering heatedly to him.

"What?! You'd rather let your family starve?!" shouted Tazuna.

"I don't want Gato killing off my family," replied the man.

"Fine, just get out of here."

Naruto and Kakashi silently watched the exchange between the two.

Once the man had left Tazuna turned back towards the two ninja. "That's been happening more frequently of late. Well, I'll be on my way then."

"Excuse me, Tazuna-san. If you have anything that I could do, I'd love to help," said Naurto.

Tazuna looked questioningly at Naruto, then at Kakashi.

"If Naruto would like to help, it's his descision. Hell, he could think of it as physical conditioning," replied Kakashi.

"Well then, I'll see what you can do."

Naruto helped with the manual labor the rest of the day, while Kakashi kept an eye on Tazuna. Sasuke showed up near the end of the day, reporting that Sakura was back at Tazuna's house watching over his family.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi escorted Tazuna back to his house once the work day was over. When they arrived they saw Sakura helping Tsunami to prepare dinner.

"Well, today was a pretty eventful day," stated Tazuna once dinner had been served.

"Yes it was. Each of you finished the tree climbing training and continued on with your other jobs. You should be proud of yourself. Tomorrow I'd like each of you to apply this training by trying to climb other vertical surfaces. Understood?"

The three genin nodded in affirmation, but they were soon interrupted by Inari.

"Why are you guys even trying? Gato will just kill all of you!" shouted the young boy.

"Who are you to tell us what to do and what not to do?" asked Naruto.

"Naruto, just leave the boy alone," stated Sakura.

"No, I bet this child has never had a hard day in his life. It's quitters like him that make me sick. If you're not willing to work for your dreams and values then you should just be quiet and leave others alone," replied Naruto. "Excuse me; I'd like to go to my room."

The table just watched in silence as Naruto got up from the table and left the room, and then quickly followed by Inari leaving the house.

"I apologize for his behavior," stated Kakashi. "Naruto hasn't had the easiest of lives."

"No I should be apologizing," started Tazuna. "Inari's 'father' was killed by Gato and his men. He hasn't been the same since his death."

Everyone slowly trickled away to their respective rooms after the explanations were given.

* * *

The rest of the week proceeded as normal. The genin were rotated everyday, and the chakra exercises continued. By the end of the week each member grasped the concept of walking up vertical surfaces using chakra fairly well.

On the first day of the second week in the village of Wave Naruto was protecting Tazuna's house and family. The morning had started as each previous morning had before. Everyone woke up early and ate the breakfast provided by Tazuna's daughter. Then Kakashi informed his team of their current roles of the day. Once Kakashi had left with Tazuna and the rest of Team Seven, Naruto began his vigil of Tsunami and Inari.

Inari had been giving Naruto the cold shoulder since the incident at the dinner table, and Tsunami was putting up wet laundry to dry.

Naruto approached the brooding Inari and sat next to him.

"Hey, I'd like to say I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'm sure you had your reasons for acting the way you did, but I just don't see eye to eye with people who just give up and don't even try."

Inari sat next to Naruto brooding for a few more minutes before responding to Naruto.

"Gato killed my 'father'. He killed him because he stood up to him."

"I know. I found out from your grandfather. But are you going to let his example go to waste? I'm betting he'd want you to stand up for yourself and believe that you can beat Gato. Maybe not by yourself, but at least stand up for what you believe in."

Before Inari could respond a scream was heard from the direction of Tsunami doing laundry. Two men with swords had taken Tsunami hostage and were approaching Naruto and Inari.

"Well, well, look what we have here. A woman, a kid, and a wannabe ninja," stated the thug with the sword to Tsunami's throat.

"Hehe, come here little kiddies. We're not going to hurt you… much," cackled the other man.

"Inari, Naruto run!" shouted Tsunami.

"Quiet!" shouted the man with the sword. "Or else I'll have to kill ya."

The two men froze as they felt cold hard steel on their necks.

"Now, now, I wouldn't be so hasty to do something so rash," stated Naruto from behind the two men. "Inari come take your mother and return inside."

Naruto waited until Inari had taken his mother from the two men and left to continue talking.

"Now I'm going to let you two go and tell your boss what's happened here today. If you however don't leave the premise I'll be forced to execute the both of you. Understood?"

The two men slightly nodded, but fearing the kunai at their throats stopped quickly.

"Good, now get the hell out of here."

The two men took off in the direction they had come from.

Naruto checked that Inari and Tsunami were fine before taking to the trees in the direction of the bridge.

* * *

Sakura and Sasuke were the two that were chosen to accompany Kakashi to the bridge that day. Unlike Naruto, neither of the two thought to offer their help to Tazuna, and Kakashi wasn't going to force them to do anything not in the job description.

It came as a surprise that while Tazuna and his men were working a dense fog began to roll in. It was a very familiar fog, and the members of Team 7 that were present felt that they had been in this fog before. It took a few moments for anyone to realize the implications of what was about to happen.

"Tazuna-san, please inform your workers to leave and go home," requested Kakashi. "Tell them that with all the hard work they've been putting in lately that they deserve a day off."

Tazuna recognizing the seriousness in Kakashi's voice rushed off to fufill his request. Most of the workers were overjoyed to learn that they had earned a day off and rushed home to spend time with their families.

"Why did I just send my workers home?" questioned Tazuna.

"Yes Kakashi, why did you request him to send his workers home?" asked an ominous and familiar voice from within the fog.

Sasuke and Sakura began to look back and forth to find from where the voice originated.

"I believe that Zabazu's presence is answer enough to your question, Tazuna-san," replied Kakashi.

Out of the dense mist approached two shadowed figures. The group recognized them as Zabuza and the alleged mist hunter-nin when they drew close enough.

"Thought you had killed me, no Kakashi?" asked Zabuza.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Well, _fortunately_ Haku over here is under my employ."

All the ninja present armed themselves with the weapons at their disposal. Team 7 each drew a kunai from their pouches, while Zabuza had his hand on the hilt of his gigantic blade and Haku had drawn a pair of senbon.

"Sasuke, you take the hunter-nin. Sakura, you guard Tazuna. And I'll handle Zabuza."

Sasuke dashed towards Haku and attempted to slice at his chest. Haku jumped back and began a series of one handed seals. Sasuke watched in disbelief as Haku sealed and didn't noticed the water rising around his body and forming into a ring of ice senbon. He barely managed to avoid the senbon when they all shot towards his unmoving form.

"So you can seal using only one hand. That makes things a little more challenging, but no worries," said Sasuke.

"You are sure of your victory when you know little of your opponent's skill. That will prove to be your undoing."

Haku began another series of one handed seals and Sasuke watched cautiously as more water rose from the pavement of the bridge.

"I will now show you my ultimate jutsu," stated the hunter-nin.

Sasuke looked around himself as the water that was previously floating in mid air began to take the shape of suspended ice mirrors.

Once all the mirrors had formed, Haku stepped into the one nearest to him.

"Now I will show you how fast I truly am."

It seemed as if Haku appeared in every one of the mirrors, and while Sasuke was watching for him to jump out of one, he instead was greeted by a barrage of senbon that encased him like a pin cushion. Sasuke dropped to one knee, and saw a splash of his own red blood on the cold bridge below him.

* * *

Zabuza finished tying his forehead protector over his eyes. "This time, Copy Ninja, you will not hypnotize me. "

"Oh, maybe not, but I guarantee I'll still be the one who walks away." At the moment, Sharingan was probably going to be next to useless, but on the off chance Kakashi had a spot to use it, he needed it running already.

"Now…you die!!" Zabuza yelled as he dashed forward and slashed at Kakashi. The Konoha Jounin jumped back to make sure most of the slash was wasted, then blocked it with his own hand, having it cut right threw the metal plate on his glove and down to Kakashi's bone. It might have been his left hand, but it was still going to be harder to do hand seals. However, it was necessary if Kakashi hoped to put Zabuza into checkmate. Kakashi pulled a kunai out with his left hand and swung it at Zabuza's unmoving form. Zabuza jumped back before he could be cut by the blade, but was still hit by some of the blood that leaked out of Kakashi's wound.

Kakashi watched all around himself after Zabuza faded into the mist waiting for him to make his next move.

* * *

Naruto was moving quickly through the forest on his way to the bridge. He figured that if Tazuna's house was being attacked, then something must be going down. He only hoped that his presence could help in some way.

As Naruto was nearing the site of the bridge he entered an extremely dense fog, and knew that something had gone wrong. He continued on to where he knew the bridge was.

Naruto arrived after Zabuza had made his entrance and the first thing he could see was the construction of mirrors surrounding Sasuke. He watched as Sasuke was pelted with senbon, and how he fell to his knee after one wave.

Thinking that Sasuke was likely in the most need he jumped into the fray and took the next wave of senbon for his downed comrade.

"Always the one for heroics," stated Sasuke as he stood from his kneeling position.

"You're one to talk," replied Naruto as he forced down the pain.

"This is a rather touching moment, but I must ensure that my master's will is carried out."

Another wave of needles was sent careening towards the two defenseless boys. Each tried to protect the other, but took just as many senbons as the one they were trying to protect. Each spilled the same amount of blood onto the cold, concrete bridge.

* * *

Kakashi was waiting for the next attack to come. Zabuza had already made many attempts, but each was fended off in some way. His body would definitely be aching the next morning. That is, if he was still alive come tomorrow.

"_He must be frustrated by now,"_ thought Kakashi. _"I'm sure he's on a time frame, so he'll try to finish this as fast as possible."_

Kakashi was preparing for his finishing move when he realized the meaning of his last thought.

"_If Zabuza's is on a time frame then he'll want to finish the objective of his mission. And I'm not the objective."_

Kakashi watched as the mist slowly dissipated and turned towards his ward. Kakashi looked at Tazuna's now visible form with a wary Sakura by his side. He also saw the form of Zabuza looming behind Sakura with his massive sword raised into the air.

"Sakura!" shouted Kakashi, trying to draw her attention to what was behind her.

Sakura unknowingly looked towards Kakashi, wondering why he would draw her attention away from the task he had set for her. It was too late however as she saw the foreboding look in his eyes as he stared past her at something behind her, and then felt the cold blade entering her shoulder and traveling quickly through her torso. She could only stare at Kakashi as the killing blow was dealt to her body.

Kakashi watched in slow motion as Zabuza's blade cleanly sliced through Sakura from left shoulder to right side. He saw tears just beginning to leak from her eyes, which held immense sadness. Her body remained rigged for a moment after the sword was removed, and he watched how her upper torso slid off from the rest of the body only to splatter on the chilly, concrete bridge.

Kakashi finished his summoning once time had resumed, and multiple dogs latched onto Zabuza and held him immobile.

"Now… you die."

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto had taken multiple waves of senbon and still they could not keep track of Haku's movements. Naruto was drawn to the scene outside the mirrors as he heard Kakashi shout Sakura's name. He could only watch as Zabuza swiftly killed one of the only friends he had ever known. His body felt numb as he watched Sakura's upper torso slowly slide from the rest of her body. He could hear the blood pulsing through his head. The multiple senbon that penetrated his skin went unnoticed as Naruto continued the macabre vigil of Sakura's death.

Sasuke watched as Naruto's body froze and could only watch as the current wave of senbon's impaled themselves into Naruto's immobile form. His vision slowed as he saw the next wave approaching and he quickly placed himself in a position to receive the brunt of the upcoming attack.

Naruto couldn't believe that one of his friends had just died. He knew that Sakura may not admit to being friends with Naruto, but he still considered her one. One of his few precious people, which he could count the total of on one hand, had just been killed. As his body began to feel once more, it was pain or sadness that first came to mind. It was anger. He could only feel a powerful rage. It was filling his body, pumping through the very same veins that kept him alive.

"_Give me your power."_

Naruto's watched as red slowly bled into his vision. He could feel the power now coursing through his veins. His rage now had an outlet. He would destroy those who caused him pain.

"_More."_

When the fox refused to give more power to Naruto, he rended the power away from fox himself. The fox could do little to stop him as he had already opened the channel to the boy, and he could do as he pleased in his own mind.

Naruto's features began to become animalistic. His hair became rugged, his nails extended into razor sharp claws. The canines in his mouth extended into fangs, and the whisker marks upon his cheek were emboldened. His eyes also become the color of blood, and acquired a taste for it too. The senbon currently imbedded in Naruto's skin were forced out, and the skin was quickly healed over.

As Sasuke jumped in front of Naruto, he was grabbed from behind and thrown out of the way of the oncoming wave. The senbon impaled themselves in Naruto's recently healed skin. But just as their predecessors, they were expelled from his body and left no trace behind.

"**Let me through,"** uttered Naruto, with demonic persuasion.

"I cannot allow you to interfere with Zabuza-sama," replied a shaky Haku.

"**Then die!"**

Naruto leapt from his position on the ground and ripped Haku out of the mirror he was in. The mirror crumbled as Naruto impaled his hands through it and extracted its master. Naruto threw Haku's body towards the ground. Haku's body impacted into the ground with such force that it caused him to bounce back into the air. Naruto implanted his foot into Haku's rising torso, and slammed his body back into the ground.

Haku felt immense pain as many of his bones were broken by the initial impact and the secondary impact. He was then plucked from his prone position and held in the air. Naruto then slammed his fist into the face of Haku, shattering the hunter-nin mask. Ceramic pieces flew in all directions, some implanting themselves in Haku's face. His body flew back with the force of the punch, and landed harshly on the cement bridge.

Before Haku could raise himself from the ground, he felt himself picked up once again. However as he stared down into the face of Naruto, he knew that he would receive no mercy from this boy. It was if he was possessed by a beast. He knew this was his end. He felt an arm pierce his torso.

Naruto flexed his hand as he felt blood coating it while inside Haku's body. He watched as blood trickled down the length of his arm, and soak into his clothes. He quickly ripped out his hand, spraying blood onto the concrete floor and brought his hand up between his and Haku's faces. Haku saw in Naruto's hand his own beating heart. He watched in his last moments as Naruto smashed the heart and splashed blood onto each of their faces. The blood slowly flowed down each of their faces. Naruto dropped Haku's dead body onto the ground.

The artist had returned.

* * *

The sound of a thousand birds filled the air as lightning began to wrap itself around Kakashi's arm. Kakashi dashed forward, so quickly he was almost invisible to the naked eye. As he neared Zabuza, he extended his arm and aimed for Zabuza's heart.

Zabuza could only watch as his death was approaching. He had watched in his peripheral vision as Haku was killed by the small blonde boy, and knew that there was no way of getting out of this situation. The breakneck force impaling his chest was only confirmation to his previous thoughts.

Kakashi looked with pity in his eyes towards Sakura's body upon the ground. Zabuza's body fell to the ground behind him as his summons disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The sound of clapping startled Kakashi, as he turned to find from where it came. Out of the remnants of the fog Kakashi watched as a small mercenary army appeared. He saw that the clapping came from a small portly man standing to the front.

"I must thank you for taking care of those nuisances," stated the portly man.

"You must be Gato," replied Kakashi.

"I see you know me. I was going to have them killed afterwards anyways, so I must again thank you for cleaning up some loose ends. I'm also glad that they tired you out; making this so much—"

Kakashi watched as a kunai was impaled to the hilt in the man's neck.

"I'm sorry; I didn't realize he was done speaking."

Kakashi turned once again to see the ragged body of Sasuke standing smugly behind him. He also saw that Naruto kneeling next to Sakura's body.

"You little fuck; you just offed our meal ticket," shouted one of the mercenaries.

"Yeah, we're gonna have'ta fuck ya' up for that," shouted another.

Before anyone could move a metal arrow implanted itself in front of one of the foremost mercenaries.

"Take one more step forward and we'll have to kill you," shouted a young boy.

Everyone present now took notice of the rather large gathering of the people of the village standing behind Sasuke. All were armed to the teeth with any potentially harmful object they could find. And at the front was a child armed with a crossbow wearing a helmet.

"Oh fuck this. This just ain't worth it," shouted the first mercenary. "Let's get outta here guys."

The small army of mercenaries left the bridge on the boats in which they had first arrived.

"Any more surprises?" exasperatedly asked Kakashi.

Seeing that nothing else was coming Kakashi finally took note of the situation. One of his team was alright, just some minor injuries. One was killed while protecting the objective. And the last was potentially scarred by the whole situation.

As Kakashi approached Naruto and Tazuna he noticed that there was blood splattered all about the boy's body, and his gaze was ever switching between Sakura's face and his blood stained hands.

"_Fuck. Add first kill to that list,"_ thought Kakashi.

Naruto's gaze never deterred from switching between Sakura and his own hands as Kakashi kneeled next to him. It was only when Kakashi had actually addressed him that he responded.

"Naruto… First kills are always the hardest, along with the first loss of a friend," started Kakashi.

His statement was only met with hysterical laughter.

"You're definitely right about that. But apparently, it doesn't get any easier," replied a hysterical Naruto.

"What do you mean by that Naruto? Is this not your first kill?" asked Kakashi.

"I just can't believe that it was actually me. I just can't believe it was me that killed her," stated Naruto.

Tears began to leak from Naruto's eyes, his whole body began to shake, and his hands clenched into fists.

"Naruto, you didn't kill Sakura," stated a now confused Kakashi.

By this time Sasuke had approached the three thinking to maybe help absolve Naruto's torment.

"Not Sakura. Momo," replied Naruto.

"Momo? Who's Momo, Naruto?" asked Sasuke.

"She was my friend. It—thought he had killed her, b—but it was m—me."

Kakashi, Sasuke, and Tazuna could only watch as Naruto was breaking down at his confession.

"Oh God, her blood!" shouted Naruto as he took note of the blood splattered on his body once again. "It's everywhere. No, Momo, don't go. I—I'm sorry. It's not your fault. Oh God, the smell. Please, don't leave me Momo."

By the time the villagers had made their way over, Naruto had been reduced to a pitiful, weeping ball on the ground. His tears had mixed with Sakura's pooling blood, and only the soft whisper of "Momo" could be heard escaping Naruto's mouth.

"Alright, let's get him out of here," stated Kakashi.

Kakashi picked his student up and, along with Sasuke, Tazuna, and Inari, made his way to Tazuna's house.

Once Naruto had been placed in his bed, Kakashi returned to the kitchen where everyone was now gathered.

"We need somebody to return and get Sakura's body. It needs to be cleaned and returned to the village for a proper burial. We can return to building the bridge once it has been cleaned up. Is that alright Tazuna?"

The man could only nod yes, in light of all that had recently happened.

"How can you just stand there and calmly issue out orders like nothing happened," shouted Sasuke.

Kakashi turned his pitying gaze now upon Sasuke.

"I know that what happened today was dreadful, and it is truly unfortunate that it happened on your very first C-Rank mission. But this is what being a ninja is like. You must be prepared to die, and for those around you to fall with you."

Sasuke stormed out of the room.

* * *

Naruto awoke to a dark room. Thinking himself alone, he once again returned to brooding.

"So tell me about this Momo person," stated an adolescent's voice.

Naruto flinched in surprise before noticing the shadowed form of Sasuke sitting across on another bed. It was another few minutes before anyone else spoke again.

"You don't have to, but I thought it might help if you shared."

"Only if you tell me about the murder of your clan," responded Naruto after a few minutes.

Once again the room was bathed in silence. The two were both brooding over what to reveal to the other, and if it was really worth it.

"It was quiet when I arrived home that day. All the lights were out, when normally my relatives would still be out. And it was quiet… deathly quiet. It was a few minutes before I started noticing the bodies. I was scarred, like any eight year old would be. I rushed to my own house, and shouted for my parents… I found my brother standing over them. He killed them before he realized I had been watching. And when he finally took note of my presence he raped my mind with some genjutsu. He made me relieve the event over and over again."

Sasuke felt somewhat better to have finally revealed his perspective of the story to someone. He now waited to see if Naruto would reciprocate.

"I was five. I had been living on my own for a few months by then. It wasn't that hard though. I mean I had practically raised myself since I first could. Life wasn't hard, it was just lonely. Everyone ignored me. Even the kids would ignore me when I asked to play with them. It was as if I didn't exist. The only reason I knew I did was because of the Hokage. He was the only one that noticed me."

Naruto was quiet for a few moments as he thought of what to add next. Sasuke sat silently, intent to hear everything Naruto had to say.

"The apartment was kind of a fifth birthday present. I was in an orphanage before that. It was the same there as everywhere else. I mean, they gave me food and a place to sleep, but that's only because they were required to by law. I don't doubt that they would have been just as glad to throw me out on the streets. In fact, that's what they did when I was five. Said I was old enough to raise myself on my own. When the Hokage found out he led me to my apartment and gave me a key. Said I was going to be living there now. It was furnished and well stocked, but that didn't get rid of the loneliness. In fact it made it worse. Even though they ignored me, at least there were still people at the orphanage."

Naruto halted his narrative once again. The room remained as silent as before.

"The Hokage came by every now and then to try and cheer me up. And after a couple of months the Hokage showed up one day, saying he had a surprise. That was when she walked in. She was to be my new caretaker. She smiled at me when introducing herself. That was the first time anyone had ever seemed happy to meet me. She became my first friend. And everyday she'd come by and we'd have fun; whether it was playing in the park or just a game at my apartment. I finally felt that I actually existed and was accepted by someone. It was the most amazing six months of my life. Until…"

Naruto halted once again. However, this time it was because tears had begun leaking from his eyes and the words had caught in his throat.

"Until, she tried to kill me."

Sasuke stared wide eyed at Naruto.

"The day was like any other. We had gone to the park and had dinner when we came back. She tucked me in and closed the door. I heard the apartment door open, and lock. I fell asleep exhausted, but happy. I was having a nightmare about drowning in the ocean. I couldn't breathe and as I sunk it got darker and darker. When I awoke it was still dark and I couldn't breathe."

Again the words caught in Naruto's throat.

"When my eyes adjusted to the dark I saw Momo standing over me with her hands wrapped around my throat. She claimed that I had slaughtered all her loved ones, and that this was just revenge. Once everything had set in, and when I realized I was going to die, I snapped. That night I brutally murdered my first and only friend. Her blood coated the walls of my apartment. It was all over my body. I couldn't escape the feeling of the blood running down my skin, the scent of it seeping into my clothing, and the sight of her ravaged body. I was told by the Hokage afterwards that it wasn't my fault. And I took solace in that fact. But after today… I finally realize that it was all me. I killed my first friend."

"It wasn't until about a month ago that I learned why I'm so hated… I'm hated because of what was placed inside me at birth. The Kyuubi no Kitsune was placed in me by the Yondaime Hokage."

Sasuke gapped as Naruto revealed his darkest secret.

"The people had lost so many to the demon that when it was gone they had no one left to blame. So, they turned to me. I was and am used as a scapegoat for all their fear and loneliness. Some even believe that I'm am the demon reincarnated. This is however not true. The demon is sealed inside my stomach, and has no way of escaping."

Both Naruto and Sasuke sat in contemplation after Naruto finished his story.

"Though very different, we both have experienced tragedies. I think I could accept you as my friend," stated Sasuke, extending his hand.

Naruto looked in shock towards Sasuke. He couldn't believe that he heard this from the brooding loner.

Naruto smiled took his hand. "Sure."

* * *

The next day everyone was surprised to see Naruto sit down at the breakfast table, looking like nothing had happened.

"So, you alright now?" asked Kakashi.

Naruto took a few bites of his breakfast, and glanced at Sasuke before responding.

"Yeah."

The bridge took another week to finish, and the group was met with no distractions. It seemed that with Gato gone, no one dared mess with Tazuna and his workers. A statue of Team 7 was placed in the town square with a plaque dedicating the bridge to all the people who risked their lives to see to its completion. There was a unanimous decision to name the bridge the 'Great Sakura Bridge'.

The town gathered together to say goodbye to Team 7 before they made their way across the recently finished bridge.

"Kakashi, I think Sasuke would agree with me on this point," started Naruto once the group had walked across the bridge. "We need training. And none of this pansy tree walking stuff. This mission showed us what happens to the unprepared. Prepare us."

Kakashi didn't give Naruto an answer that day. It wasn't until halfway through the trip before Kakashi responded to Naruto's request.

"Alright, I'll train you. But understand that it won't be easy. And before we start I want you to explain to Sasuke about your 'Condition'."

"Already explained, and I think we can deal with hard, right Sasuke?"

Sasuke's smirk was almost enough of a response. "Oh yeah."

"So you told Sasuke about the Kyuubi, and felt that you didn't need to inform of this development."

"That's right. It's my secret, and I felt he would understand the situation."

Kakashi sighed and continued walking for a bit before continuing their discussion.

"We start the day after we get back to Konoha. Understood?"

Both Genin nodded in affirmation, and didn't raise the topic of training the rest of the trip.

* * *

"It's dreadful to hear of such loss on what was supposed to be such a simple mission," stated the Hokage

Team 7 stood before the Hokage in his office. They had just been debriefed and now only waited to be dismissed.

"Well that will be all. I'm sure you all need to get some rest."

Once they had left the office, Kakashi turned to the two Genin left on his team.

"Tomorrow we will meet at the bridge, where we always meet. We will be doing a D-Rank mission everyday, so as to keep money in our pockets. We will do these missions as quickly and efficiently as possible. That means no arguing over whose idea of what to do is best. Once the mission is complete we will head towards the designated training ground of the day. From there we will heavily train in whatever I deem the material for the day is. Understood?"

The two Genin nodded before they split up and headed towards home.

"Are you sure your ready for this?" asked Sasuke.

"Are you?" replied Naruto.

"Like you even have to ask."

"Ditto."

**A/N:** Alright let me just say that I feel no animosity towards the canon Sakura. I just needed her to die in this story. Sorry to any big Sakura fans out there. Thanks to all those who reviewed, and I hope you continue. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, but I hope not too long.


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